Chapter 2: 10 Hours of Sleep
(WARNING: The Currency Yen has been generalized into Dollars just in case some viewers don't know the correct conversions)
"I'm hoooome!" Mori announced as he opened the door to his apartment.
But like always, there was no reply. Not even his echo, that's how small his living area was. It had a simple kitchen in the corner and a bathroom a few feet away. There was a large window in his living room which was the middle of the apartment. He had a simple coffee table and some cushions for sitting. A rather small flat-screen TV was plugged into a socket next to the table.
Mori dumped his giant rucksack down against the living room wall, but not before taking off his shoes. He opened the zip and dived into the bag, digging out his studying material along with the money he made that day. After placing the items on the table, he walked over to the food cabinet and pulled out a tub of instant ramen of a Korean brand. Then he filled his kettle with water and turned it on while flavoring the ramen. As he waited for the water to boil, he went over to the fridge and nabbed a small bottle of Banana-flavored milk. Consuming it in a single gulp.
"Whooo~ Those are the best," he exclaimed while throwing the empty bottle over his shoulder and into the trash.
The whistling of the kettle told him that it was ready. Mori quickly made his ramen and brought it over to the table. Eating the noodles while counting the day's profit.
"3...4...5...70...110 yen!" said Mori, "Wow, that's almost a new high score,"
With that out of the way, Mori slurped up the rest of the ramen, letting out a burp as he went over to throw the empty tub out.
After washing his hands, the blue-haired boy soaked a washcloth and proceeded to wipe the coffee table until it was sparkling clean.
With a satisfied grin, he laid out all of his books on the table. They varied in thickness and topics, ranging from Biology to Maths, to Geography, to Classical Japanese, the latter Mori couldn't understand no matter how many times the teacher explained it and how hard he tried. Honestly, he was just an exchange student, his Japanese language skills were only great for modern conversations, but not the country's equivalent to Shakespeare.
Well no matter, Mori wanted to pass his classes. With a quick, light wake-up slap, Mori went into his studying mode for the rest of the night until he went to sleep.
Speaking of sleep, Mori's bedroom wasn't anything special either. There were only two notable things in that tiny room. A small clothing drawer, and a mattress with a quilt and a single pillow.
Two days flew by, and it was now Friday. Issei looked back, towards the blue-haired boy at his desk, diligently taking down notes. Mori didn't have his rucksack with him today, as he had three rest days per week. Issei then glanced back at the blackboard, the white chalk writing was being erased by their teacher as the final bell of the day had rung a minute prior. The brown-haired teen had already finished packing and his perverted friends had already run home to watch the newest DVD in Motohoma's collection.
A sweat drop rolled down Issei's head as he watched Mori speeding up his note-taking as he raced against the teacher's blackboard wiping...Mori lost. Maybe he shouldn't have taken that toilet break five minutes ago.
Mori slumped back against his chair, exhausted from all the writing he had to do in those 300 seconds. He felt like he had just taken an exam and started to shake his wrist to get the blood flowing back in. After accepting his defeat, the blue-haired boy began to pack up his books.
Issei didn't know what compelled him forward, as he walked up to Mori's desk.
"Hey,"
"Huh?" Mori raised his head, large innocent eyes looking up at the fellow teen, "Oh, hi Hyoudou-kun, I'm sorry but my services aren't open on Fridays and weekends,"
"Ahaha, that's not it," Issei laughed, and placed down his textbook in front of Mori, "I just thought, you might need to copy this,"
Mori flipped open the book and found a page of the notes that he wasn't able to jot down.
"This is-, Can I really?"
"Yeah sure, go ahead, I can understand your struggle," nodded Issei.
"Thank you, I'll finish this as quick as I can," Mori beamed as he immediately began to copy the notes into his book, "Your next errand will be free,"
Issei scratched the back of his as he gave a light laugh, "Really? Thanks,"
The brown-haired teen went back to his desk and sat down to wait. He glanced back at the blue-haired several times and remembered the day Mori arrived at Kuoh.
Several Months Prior:
The door slid open as the teacher walked up to the podium. The chatter of students instantly stopped as they focused their attention on their teacher as he cleared his throat.
"Class, I have an announcement for you," he begun, "You have all been notified about an Exchange Student coming to this Academy, but you've never been told which class, and what year he or she would be assigned to. And it is by luck, that our class, Class 2-A, has been chosen by the principal. So everyone be nice and let us welcome our newest member!"
The teacher raised an arm towards the door and started clapping, the students followed his example, and applause rung around the classroom.
"You think it's a guy or a girl?" One student asked his desk neighbor.
"I hope it's another girl, maybe one from East Europe like Rias Gremory,"
"It has to be a cute boy this time right? Then we can ship him with Kiba~," a girl in the front-row squealed at the thought of Boy's Love.
Then, he walked in, and the males of the class's faces dropped. On the other hand, the girls' expressions all brightened up. Wearing the Kuoh Gym Uniform, and a head of messy blue hair, Mori strolled in, standing next to the teacher podium.
The teacher gave him a nod, "Please, introduce yourself,"
With a smile, Mori bowed and greeted the class, "Good Morning. I'm Dan Mori, I hope we can all get along,"
Mori finished with a bright grin, which caused the girls to squeal and the boys to growl.
"Dang it, another pretty boy taking our women,"
"O.M.G~ He's so cuuute~,"
The classroom was split on the appearance of the mysterious student.
"Dan-kun, there's an empty seat in the back left corner, that'll be yours until the year is over,"
Mori bowed at the teacher, "Thank you very much,"
Issei, like every other male in the class, couldn't hide his scowl at the sight of another visually appealing male in the class...no, school. Kiba already reigned at the very top, and this exchange student could potentially rival the blonde in looks alone.
"Ah great, he's heading this way," Issei muttered with folded arms.
Mori walked straight past him and sat at the desk behind Issei. The girls of the class' gazes followed the blue-haired boy as he traveled to his new desk.
Issei glared at him as the newest student sat down and started taking out his books. Mori's eyes flicked up while placing a pen on his desk and noticed the brown-haired teen's grouchy expression.
"Good morning," Mori beamed with an eye smile and a short wave.
With a quiet huff, Issei averted his gaze and looked back towards the blackboard.
Present
Nearly half a year later, Issei's opinions of Mori had softened. The exchange student seemed to have no interest in pursuing the opposing gender and was generally a nice guy. Mori's reputation during that time also plummeted drastically. Dropping from the Second Prince of Kuoh, straight down to Offical Errand Runner. Some of the students of Kuoh, both male and female, practically saw the boy as a slave.
"Done!" Mori slapped his textbook shut and returned Issei's book while packing his bag.
"Again, thanks for that," said Mori as he got up and extended his hand
"Really, it's no problem, I've been there before," Issei smiled as he shook it. A thought crossed his mind and maybe, just maybe, they could become friends.
"Welp! I gotta go home and make me some ramen, I'll see you around Hyoudou-kun,"
Before he realized it, Mori had already left the classroom. Issei blinked and then picked up his bag while racing after him.
The boy was fast, that's for sure. By the time Issei caught up to Mori, they were already at the front gates.
"Wait! Hold up...Mori,"
Mori turned around to face him, "Somethin' up?"
Issei scratched his cheek as he caught his breath, "Nothing, I just recently noticed we take the same routes home, so I was wondering if your cool with walking together, it gets boring with no one to talk to y'know,"
Mori simply looked at him, and blinked a few times.
Issei waved his hands out in front, "If you don't want to I understand-,"
"Nah, it's cool," Mori responded, "You let me borrow your notes and you look like a good person to me so, come on,"
"Right," said Issei.
The two teenage boys began their journey back to their respective homes. They chatted about the usual things boys their age would talk about; games, anime, manga, webtoons, and Jackie Chan movies. Issei had to admit, it had been a while since he had a conversation with another teenage male that wasn't about, breasts and butts. It was a bit refreshing.
They also quickly moved to a first-name basis, as Mori didn't like all the formalities and found it annoying since they were the same age, seventeen, although Issei was older by a few months.
"So, Mori, where are you from...overseas...exactly?" asked Issei.
"Me? Well...," Mori placed his hands behind his head, "I was born in China but moved to Korea when I was six, and now I'm here to finish high school,"
That was what Mori told everyone who asked, truthfully he couldn't remember much from anything before last year.
He woke up in a hospital a year ago and the doctors diagnosed him with amnesia. At the facility, they ran some tests on him and discovered that he remembered some general information like his name, Dan Mori. He also had the ability to speak, both Chinese and Korean fluently, which surprised the doctors.
Thus, by utilizing this knowledge, they quickly came up with a temporary backstory for him until he got his memories back. All the while, they taught him Japanese for the convenience of communication. They then sent him down to a better facility at Kyoto for some final examinations before deeming him ready to be released back into civilization.
The duo kept up the walking and talking until they separated paths. Mori continuing forwards and Issei going across a bridge. Where, unbeknownst to the brown-haired teenager, an event would occur that would change his life forever.
Meanwhile, sitting in the old school building, not too far away from the main campus. Two young women sat opposite each other on the building's couches.
"So, that exchange student...Dan Mori. I see you've been keeping an eye on him," the dark-haired, ponytailed one said as she crossed one leg over the other.
"Yeah," the crimson-haired, sapphire-eyed girl replied, looking out the window, "He's an interesting one, Akeno,"
"How so, Rias?" Akeno asked.
Rias turned around, "You've realized it too haven't you? The boy has no aura,"
"Are you sure? Could it be that it's because he's not strong enough to have it noticeable," said Akeno.
"That could be the case, however, it's still bugging me," Rias admitted, folding her arms under her large assets.
"We could get Koneko-chan to look into it for you, or maybe even Sona-Kaichou," Akeno suggested.
Rias shook her head in response. "Dan Mori, I'll personally keep an eye on him,"
"Ara ara~, he must be a real enigma for him to interest you that much," said Akeno as she giggled.
Rias shot her a look and the raven-haired girl slowly quietened down before giving her suggestion. "Perhaps you can hire his services if you want to double-check your suspicions that much,"
"That's...actually not a bad idea Akeno," said Rias with a small smile.
"That's why you keep me around," Akeno replied.
It was now Sunday, and Mori was strolling around Kuoh Town.
With his homework finished and nothing to do, he decided to go buy his weekly groceries using the money earned from his errands. Through an average week, Mori could earn a minimum of 300 yen, which to him, was enough to survive. He didn't have many hobbies to spend his money on, allowing him to spend his cash freely. Although he had the habit of saving most of it and buying only the necessities. Thankfully, the apartment's rent was cheaper than most, so that was a plus.
The electric, automated doors to Kuoh's main mall opened, and Mori went straight towards the supermarket. The blue-haired teen, out of habit, pulled out a cart at the entrance. Pushing the cart, Mori went through every section of the supermarket, spending at least ten minutes in each area. Twenty, at the fruit section. His cart slowly filling up as he followed his mind-map of the market.
"Toothbrush, check… Tissues, check… Noodles, check… Rice, check," Mori murmured to himself, as he went through a list on a scrap piece of paper he hastily wrote up, "And I still need...Chicken, and Pickled Radish,"
With a self-assuring nod, Mori headed towards the foreign produce first, on the other side of the market. He and his cart rolled up next to a shelf of packaged yellow cylinders.
"Aah~ Danmuji, I've missed you," said Mori gleefully to the Korean Pickled Radish as he reached out to grab a packet.
However instead of the nice, comforting, cold touch of the Radish packet. He felt the soft, silky texture of...a hand?
"Huh?" Mori looked to his right.
"Wha-?" The hand's owner looked to her left.
Standing next to Mori was Rias Gremory holding a shopping basket. For some reason, she wore the school uniform on a weekend, and Mori decided not to think about it. It'd be bad for his mental health.
Her bright sapphire eyes gazed into Mori's dark irises, and her crimson-red hair flowed beautifully down her back. Mori usually only saw her from afar, through the fan-crowds as she walked by with her pony-tailed companion.
Now with her standing so close, Mori had a better look at her, and he realized.
"You're shorter than I thought,"
"Excuse me?" Rias looked flabbergasted at the comment, and because she wasn't expecting to see him here.
"Hm? Oh, sorry," Mori rubbed the back of his hand and flashed her a grin, "You're one of the Academy's celebrities so I didn't think I'd see you at a place like this, because I've heard you're from a rich family...so that kinda slipped out by accident,"
"Celebrity?" Rias echoed.
Mori nodded, "Yeah, everyone in every class talks about the Number One Beauties of Kuoh, Rias Gremory, and Himejima Akeno. Surely you would know,"
"Y-Yes, I do,"
Silence passed between them for a few seconds before Rias noticed that she was indeed an inch or two shorter than the blue-haired boy.
"Sooo," Mori pointed a finger at the Pickled Radish, "Were you getting this?"
His words snapped Rias out of her thoughts and she nodded, "I was, but you can have it, I'll be on my way now,"
"Oh, you don't need to be so courteous," Mori reached up and grabbed the first packet, plopping it in the crimson-haired heiress' basket. "I'll just get the one behind it, there's plenty of Danmuji for everyone,"
After dropping his Radish in his cart, Mori turned, waving goodbye to Rias with his signature smile still on his face, "Anyway I gotta go. It was nice talking to you, see you at school,"
Rias blinked and the boy was gone. Then, she realized she missed her chance to ask him some questions and to check his aura.
"Wait! Dan Mori-kun," she tried to call him back, but the boy was faster than she had expected.
In that short amount of time, Mori grabbed the chicken and had already checked out. Rias watched as his messy-blue hair disappeared from her sight.
With his grocery bags in hand, Mori exited through the automated doors and looked up to see the darkening pink and orange hues of the setting sun.
"It looks really nice today," stated Mori, "Maybe I should take the long way home,"
Nodding to himself, Mori decided to take an extended route back to his small apartment complex. The journey took him through streets and over several bridges, after a good twenty minutes, Mori found himself sauntering through the park.
He breathed in the fresh oxygen generated by the numerous types of trees and plants inhabiting the park. Mori felt relaxed in the serene atmosphere and he kept his slow steady pace down the path.
While walking, Mori rummaged through one of his grocery bags and snapped off a banana. He swiftly peeled off the rubbery skin and bit into the soft yellow flesh. Mori hummed a familiar tune to himself as he took another bit. Nothing beats an evening banana, nothing...well, maybe an evening peach, but aside from that, nothing.
Finishing off the fruit, the blue-haired found the nearest trash can to throw out the skin. Once he did he dusted off his hands made his way to the park's main attraction, the fountain.
"I'm the greatest~ I'm the greatest~ The greatest~," Mori sang quietly, marching on the path. That song he was one of the few things he could remember, every time he sang it, he would get a sudden wave of nostalgia and happiness at the same time.
'Y'know, this feeling, for some reason I kinda miss it,' thought Mori.
Soon the water-spouting mechanism was just up ahead. Mori, who was now whistling the tune, saw a familiar face standing by the fountain. The brown hair, and pointy back-tufts, no doubt about it, it was Issei.
Mori was just about to greet him when he noticed that Issei, wasn't alone. In front of him stood a teenage girl with dark long-hair, due to her back facing him, Mori couldn't see the color of her eyes.
"Ooh~ He's on a date, I shouldn't disturb them," Mori murmured while looking around, he jumped into the bushes to hide as the couple made their way closer.
The blue-haired boy could hear a bit of their conversation.
"...Hey…ssei, would you...ie...for me?" the girl asked softly.
"Yuuma-chan, could you repeat that please?" Issei asked nervously.
"Would you, die for me?"
Mori heard that one, and his attention was immediately peaked.
A wicked grin grew on Yuuma's face as she became cloaked in a dark pink light. Issei stumbled back several steps and dropped on the ground. Mori's eyes widened as he fell back against the trunk of an oak tree.
"What is that?" he whispered to himself.
When the light cleared, the Yuuma girl's attire had changed completely, a complete one-eighty to be more accurate. From a cute, innocent first date outfit, into a bunch of black leather straps covering her private areas. The thing that shocked Mori the most, were the two midnight-black, feathered wings protruding from her back.
Mori wanted to scramble to his feet and take off running, but his body just wouldn't move. He could only watch as Yuuma and Issei exchanged words. Then a shrieking laugh reached his ears, as a spear of light formed in the girl's hands. The sound of flesh ripping apart replaced the laughter.
Issei laid on the pavement with a big hole in his abdomen, he coughed out an abnormal amount of blood and even more flowed freely from his wound.
Control over his body returned to Mori, and instead of making a hasty retreat as he wanted. Mori found himself rushing towards his fallen acquaintance.
"Issei!" he yelled out, catching the attention of both Yuuma and the brown-haired teen.
Horror filled Issei's eyes as he watched the innocent Mori coming towards extreme danger. With the last of his strength, Issei sputtered, "...No! Mori...Run!..."
"Shit! A witness!" Yuuma hissed, "You must be dealt with,"
She created another spear and threw it towards the charging Mori. Hitting him in the dead-center of his chest, sending him tumbling back. Confident that he was down and out for good, Yuuma flapped her wings and soared into the sky, returning to her base.
Issei clenched his eyes, he couldn't watch as the boy he considered his newest friend, died alongside him. Issei released another cough of blood and felt his life slipping away. He couldn't believe that his life would end like this, killed on his first-ever date. If only he could die in the arms of an all-rounded beauty..someone like Rias Gremory.
"Damn, why am I thinking of her now?" thought Issei as his head went limp to the side, catching a glimpse of his spilled internal red liquid, "...My blood...it's red...the same color as her hair,"
Just then a bright red light illuminated the night-fallen park. A crimson circle with an unknown sigil formed on the ground. Standing in the center of the circle, was a girl with scarlet hair.
"So you were the one who summoned me," Rias Gremory stepped out from the circle, which dispersed shortly after.
Issei's vision became blurry, but from the voice and the general shape of the person standing over him, he could tell that it was a girl.
"It looks like you're dying, your wound...oh my, it looks like something intriguing is happening to you," Rias said as a small crimson object appeared on her hand, "I see my suspicions were right. If you're going to die then I'll take it, your life that is. From now on you'll live as serving me,"
Issei's ears had stopped functioning, it felt like his entire body was about to shut down, and as his world darkened, the last thing he saw, was red.
After a few minutes and several consecutive bright red glows. All eight Pawn pieces had melted into Issei's body, fusing with him and reconstructing his DNA.
Rias was about to teleport them to his house when in her peripheral vision she noticed something. Orange sneakers and a hoodie several shades lighter than her hair. Curious, she stood up to and walked towards it for a closer inspection. Her sapphire-blue eyes widened.
"Dan Mori?!" she gasped.
Splayed out on the cement next to the fountain, the blue-haired boy laid there with his eyes closed and lips slightly parted.
"Is he-?" Unable to read his aura to check if he was dead, Rias knelt next to him and hovered two fingers in front of his nostrils.
"He's not breathing," Then, with the same fingers, she placed them gently next to his windpipe, applying a slight bit of pressure. There wasn't a pulse. Rias quickly checked the veins on both his wrist and once again, no pulse. As the final measure, the heiress bent down and pressed her ear against Mori's chest.
"...His heart isn't beating," she murmured while coming back up.
Rias was just about to summon another Evil Piece when she heard the pacing of the evening joggers who exercise at the Park after sunset. She looked between the two boys laying on the ground, she could try to rush the resurrection process on Mori but the sound of the steps grew louder and Rias saw the silhouette of the joggers in the distance.
With a click of her tongue, she quickly made her way to Issei's side and teleported away, but not before taking another glance at Mori.
…
The bright light of her circle faded.
…
Natural, nocturnal sounds fell upon the park.
…
*GASP!*
Mori sat up, breathing heavily with a hand clutching his chest.
"Ahh, that really hurt," he groaned, using the rim of the fountain to assist himself up, "Who was that? What was that?"
The events that occurred flashed by his mind and Mori's dark eyes stretched as he ran around to the front of the fountain.
"ISSEI!" he cried out worriedly.
He expected to find a body or at least blood, except there was nothing there. Mori's eyes darted around in confusion. Was what he saw, reality?... Or did he drink one too many cartons of banana milk?
'Wings, the color of the night sky...and a spear going through Issei… But there's no evidence for it, this place is totally clean! Unless… Noo, but what if… Actually, wait would that work…?'
"Hey, you okay man?"
A voice broke him out of his thoughts. Mori looked up to see a young man wearing a blue tracksuit with earphones hanging around his neck, standing in front of him.
"Huh?" Mori murmured.
"I saw someone lying on the ground so I came as fast as possible," the runner explained, pointing at the spot where Mori laid a minute ago.
The blue-haired boy blinked, then rubbed scratched his cheek sheepishly as he replied, "O-Oh yeah, I probably just slipped on some water, I'm okay though, thanks for asking,"
"Well if you're sure," The man started lightly jog away, and waved goodbye to Mori, "I better get going, go to the hospital to check just in case"
"Will do," Mori returned the wave as he watched the man's silhouette disappear deeper into the park.
He sighed, and with a mind full of questions counteracting other questions filling his brain, Mori decided to head home for the day.
But not before grabbing his groceries that were still lying by the tree, he spent hard-earned money on those.
The morning rays of the sun pierced a crack in the bedroom curtains. Mori's eyes twitched and slowly peeked open, as always the white-paint ceiling greeted him. Rubbing his eyes and blinking the sleep away, Mori sat up slowly, his hands still tightly gripping the quilt. A calendar hung on the wall reminded him that it was the start of a new week of school, and by forcing back an intense desire to smother his face on his pillow, Mori heaved himself up to get ready for school...and work.
He trudged over to his dresser and randomly pulled out several items of clothing. A white long-sleeved shirt, the gray track-pants, socks, and a crumpled black Kuoh blazer. His normal light-red hoodie was going through its weekly wash.
Mori removed his pajamas, which was a Monkey onesie given to him by the doctors as a, "Get Well Soon" gift. The blue-haired boy glanced at his reflection in the window, aside from his light blue bed-hair, he saw the scars down his shoulders and upper back. Mori let a hand run across the scar on his shoulder as he stared at the window, no matter how hard he racked his brain, he just couldn't seem to remember how he acquired them. Shaking off his thoughts, as too much of it would be detrimental for his mental health, Mori quickly equipped the day's outfit.
"Right!" Mori exhaled as he tied the blazer around his waist, it was more comfortable that way. The school said that the blazer was compulsory to wear, however, they never said how to wear it, so Mori took this advantage to customize his appearance a bit.
As he tightened the blazer's sleeves something slipped out of an inner pocket and landed between Mori's legs.
"Hm?" the blue-haired boy bent down to pick it up. It was a forest-green sleeping mask. According to the doctors, the sleeping mask was found tied around his wrist when the people who found him unconscious by an estuary, brought him into the hospital. Mori didn't have any use for the mask as he had no trouble sleeping, but he didn't want to throw it out as he thought that it might belong to someone close to him, someone who he couldn't remember. So, he simply threw it into his dresser for safekeeping.
Mori gazed at the mask for a couple more seconds and shrugged.
"Might as well," he chirped as he put the sleeping mask on. The fabric kissed his forehead and his light-blue bangs hung loosely in front of it.
After a quick breakfast, Mori slipped on his sneakers and flung the rucksack onto his back. As he exited the building he could vividly remember, black feathery wings and Issei dying.
"Man~, what a weird dream," Mori yawned as he began his trek to school, "That's the last time I go to sleep after 11,"
10 Hours, 10 hours of sleep is the best for your mental health. That was Mori's philosophy...unless, you were having a Jackie Chan movie marathon. That was the only exception of the rule.
Issei slowly strolled towards the Academy gates, with his bag slung over his shoulder. Matsuda and Motohama had different routes to school so the teen walked to school by himself. He flipped through his phone searching for a certain contact. He furrowed his brow as the word [Empty] appeared for the twentieth time since he woke up.
"This is just so…" Issei mumbled as he tried to search for the name 'Yuuma' once again, "There's just no way she's just a figment of my imagination, I clearly remember buying her that bracelet. My 45 yen is missing so that's just further proof,"
Issei sighed and slid the phone back into his pocket as entered through the gates, "Speaking of dreams, what the heck was the one from last night? It felt so real...was it lucid?... Was that my secret fantasy?... Agh! I can't be that messed up, right?"
He decided to hurl these thoughts to the back of his mind and focused on walking. In front of him, bobbing up and down, was the unmistakable figure of Dan Mori. A smile grew on Issei's face as he jogged forward to his side.
"Yo," he greeted.
"Good morning, Issei" Mori replied, slightly averting his eyes and staring straight at the Main School Building, as the image of the brown-haired teen being impaled flashed past his mind.
"Hey, you know, I had a really weird dream last night," said Issei him.
"Really? What happened?" Mori turned his head around, his curiosity got the better of him.
"I took this really hot girl out on a date, it was going exactly like what I've seen on TV and movies, and then when we took a stroll around the park, you know, the one with the fountain. Then she asked me "Would you die for me?", then had this kinky magical girl transformation and black feathered-wings sprouted from her back,"
Mori didn't like where this was going, it was too similar to his dream.
"Then she pulled out a pink spear and threw it into me, and get this, I died," Issei explained as his hand gestures waved around, "I was lying in my own pool of blood when there was a flash of red and I woke up… Weird, right?"
"Y-Yeah, really weird, but all dreams are weird one way or another, right?" Mori replied as an unseen bead of sweat rolled down his temple.
'I...probably shouldn't say anything about mine being 75% the same. He'll probably freak out...Heck, I'm already freaking out,' Mori thought as they neared the large glass doors.
"Well, guess your right about that," said Issei as he pushed the doors open.
"You probably shouldn't drink too much banana milk before bed,"
"...Mori, we haven't been friends for more than a week, but… I think you're the only one in this entire town that drinks banana milk like a vitamin supplement every day,"
"Hahaha~, you're probably right about that," Mori laughed. He warmed up a little inside as he heard Issei calling him a 'friend'.
His first friend since his awakening at the hospital.
Himejima Akeno, sat at her desk by the window, her chin resting in her palm as she gazed out at the schoolyard scenery outside. She had arrived in the classroom early today as the Club had a small meeting an hour ago, and to avoid her fans who would crowd her every time she walked in.
Sitting at the desk in front of her was best friend Rias, who was flipping absentmindedly through a book.
Then, the dark-haired girl's shining violet eyes locked onto a certain azure-haired boy. She narrowed her eyes as she leaned forward and tapped the crimson-haired heiress on the shoulder.
Rias looked back at her, "What's wrong, Akeno?"
"You said you saw Dan Mori die, didn't you?" asked Akeno.
Rias nodded, "Yes, I made sure of it,"
"Then who is that?" Akeno pointed out the window.
Rias followed her finger and nearly leaped out of her seat in shock. Her crystalline eyes widened and her jaw dropped.
"D-D-Dan...Mori?" She blinked several times to make sure it wasn't just a hallucination. Below them, Mori and her newly revived Pawn, Issei, walked through the doors together.
"How's that possible?" she whispered to herself. Then, she whipped her head around to face Akeno once more.
"Akeno," she ordered, "I need you to hire him for an errand today, tell him to meet me at the Clubroom after school, with something...anything,"
"Yes, Buchou," the pony-tailed girl replied with a nod.
The heiress readjusted herself to face the front. With her elbows holding up her forearms in a triangle, she entwined her fingers and placed her hands just below her nose.
Rias remained in her thinking position and didn't notice the teacher walking in, to start the classes for the day. When the lectures began, she paid him no mind as something else was filling her thoughts.
"No aura, and seemingly revived and recovered overnight, after being attacked by a Fallen Angel… Just who are you...Dan Mori?"
And, that, concludes Chapter 2...and I ended it on "Dan Mori" again. Fair warning, for the start, it'll just basically be Canon Events + Mori, for this and the Riser Arc. After that things will become different.
I'm also strictly using Webtoon Mori and not Anime Mori, which means: No permanent 'X' eyes, Mori lost to Ilpyo, No giant hand slapping, etc. This also means, I'll be using the Webtoon names, e.g. instead of [Triple Kick], it'll be back to the good old [Three-Stage Hwechook].
In time, this story will make a shift to the 'M' rating, seeing as it is DXD, and GoH isn't exactly chill with the gore either. I'll change it probably after Chapter 3.
Also Thank You, to all the people who favorited, followed, and reviewed, the first 2-3 days of this story's existence. I will be doing a small Q&A section at the end of each chapter, I'll try to answer all, and if I don't, then it might be because it's too similar to another question, or something along the lines of that. (I won't be typing the question itself, only the answers) Anyway, let's begin!
.31- I can't say.
Guest - Your welcome, congrats on being first.
Multiple People - His gear and abilities are things I can't talk about due to spoilers. But they will be making their appearances later.
FATEMURDER - Mori has rent, and he gotta pay for food.
Multiple People - Xuanzang being a girl trope...HAS AND WILL ALWAYS irk me to no end, it feels so wrong to me due to growing up with JttW. I'll make an exception for GoH, and only GoH.
Mori will be meeting his and his old crew's counterparts, but that's gonna be further down the line. Regarding Senjutsu and Youjutsu, obviously DXD Wukong is a master at both, but for Mori...just gotta wait and see.
Triton0501 - He might, but it won't be more than 5 since I don't think Mori is that type of guy, (I already have one pairing in mind, but feel free to suggest). Also aside from development, he also has the best style (in my opinion, Dan Mori = Drip Mori).
Anyway! That's all for Chapter 2. Once again hope you enjoyed it, leave a review, and all that good stuff.
Thank You For Reading, and Goodbye!