Hey everyone and get ready for this chapter. This will be the first chapter of the Mountain-training arc, I plan on adding something extra for the training in this arc so enjoy it. And also this arc will only have two chapters, this being one of them so don't worry. I want to get started on the Rating Game as soon as I can. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit fan-based parody, Highschool DxD, Highschool DxD New, Highschool DxD Born, Highschool DxD EX, and Highschool DxD Hero are all owned by Funimation, Fushimi Shobo, TNK, Passione, and Ichiei Ishibumi. Please support the official release.
"Shirou" Regular speech.
"Shirou" Thoughts.
DRAGON SHOT Attack names.
(Shirou) Words said previously.
"SHIROU!" Shouting speech.
[Ddraig] Dragon talking.
Hard Training And Something New
"You Bastard!"
Shirou was only eleven years old back in those days. He had spent a year at this crap hole, working for the pieces of shit who ran the place.
They were a group of people who organized in legalized crime. They stole things when they wanted to steal, they hurt others whenever the mood struck them and they even killed like it was no big deal.
Shirou knew that personally since he killed in order to be hired by them.
Even though it was the worst time of his life, he still did it and he still stayed.
Why, because they had two things he needed to survive.
The First was being capable of fighting while having the strength to match.
Shirou knew there was one important thing he needed in life to survive and that thing was power. The power not to lose, the power to fight, the power to crush any foe that comes his way, the power to hold onto what's valuable to him and never let anyone else take it. That was the power he desperately needed and would do whatever he could to get it, but he knew ordinary methods wouldn't be enough.
Now after a year of being here, he had it, the fighting ability, the survival skills, the strength to even overpower an adult who was twice his age and size. He had it in his hands.
The other thing he needed was money. He needed money for both himself and his sister to live on. He was just a kid so he couldn't get money the normal way and his parents didn't have any family or friends he knew about that he could reach or call for help. And if they tried anything else, then odds are they'd end up being taken in by child services and sent to foster homes. And regardless of what they might say, Shirou didn't believe that would be the right choice.
Doing that would mean they would have to live under someone else's watch and they would be surrounded by strangers, whom he didn't feel like taking a risk and trusting on the premise that they "might" be good people. Shirou wanted to survive on his own, and for that, he needed a way to make money, that's why he was here.
This place makes a large sum of profit for doing many things Shirou was sure weren't legal or safe. But he didn't care about that, all he cared about was waiting until there was enough for what he needed to do.
Now that the day where he had both had finally come he no longer needed this place. That's why right now he was standing in a small room with a table in the middle, placing stacks of money in a briefcase, while the gang's boss was standing in front of the door looking ready to murder him. Though Shirou didn't really seem concerned and just kept at what he was doing.
"Sorry boss, I had to do it." Young Shirou spoke emotionless.
"So it was you! You did all this!"
The boss was refereeing to the fact that everyone in the room, besides the two of them, was dead and on the floor. And it wasn't just them, every single member of this gang was dead, some in different ways, some simply were on the ground laying motionless, others had knife cuts going through their necks and throats indicating they were murdered and the whole one-floor building that was their base was littered all over the place with dead bodies.
"Yeah, I did, pretty easy in fact."
"How?!"
"Guess I'll tell you, first off, I spiked all the alcohol with rat poison so when everyone took a drink they would die." Young Shirou explained. "After that happened, that was the signal where I would cut the power, I know everyone left would be confused by the sudden darkness, so I pulled out a switchblade and cut open everyone's throats from the hallways to this room, I knew this room was the one where you guys count the money, now everyone's out of the way, this gang is dead and this money is mine."
"Oh, I bet you're feeling really smart about this?!" The boss said sarcastically while teaming with rage. "How'd you even set this up, did someone help you? Did they betray me for a cut of the profits?!"
"No one helped me, boss. I've just been planning this for months. You're the idiot who never saw it coming because you actually thought I had even a shred of loyalty to you."
Young Shirou put the last of the money in the briefcase, then closed it, and then picked it up from the table.
"Whelp, explanation over, now then it's time I go."
"LIKE HELL YOU WILL!" The boss roared. He then drew a pocket knife. "YOU SERIOUSLY THINK I'LL LET YOU LEAVE AFTER ALL THIS? OVER MY DEAD BODY!"
"Suit yourself." Young Shirou still had the same emotionless expression, he then took out a handgun from his pocket and aimed it at the boss.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Young Shirou fired his gun three times at the boss.
THUD!
The first shot hit his chest, though before the boss could scream Young Shirou fired again, this time in his neck, this killing him, but Young Shirou wanted to be sure so he fired one more time in his forehead.
After being shot thrice by Young Shirou, the boss' lifeless body fell and hit the ground in a heap. And with that, this entire gang had been wiped out by a single eleven-year-old boy, in one night.
Young Shirou had been wearing a glove with the hand that was holding the gun to avoid leaving fingerprints. He then picked up the briefcase and began to make his way out of the room, as he passed by the corpse that was once the boss, he looked down at it. "I know this isn't really the best time for this but, thanks for taking such good care of me and my Sister this past year." He then drops the gun on top of his body. "I really appreciate it."
Shirou then walks out of the room and down the hallway, ignoring all the dead bodies he either walked passed or walked over.
Eventually, he made it to a certain room at the end of the building, he opened the door and walked inside.
Inside was a small cramped room with very little space, the only furniture was a single bed and an open laptop. Resting on the bed was a little girl with long black hair, she lay there sound asleep, not knowing of the murderous actions that just took place. This girl was Shirou's younger Sister; Mika Tsukiharu, at the age of eight.
Young Shirou took out a backpack and placed the briefcase inside, he then picked up the laptop and put that inside the backpack as well. When that was done he walked over to the bed and placed a hand on his Sister's face, she responded to his touch and slowly opened her eyes.
"B-Big Bro…?" Young Mika spoke, her eyes open half-open, she was only half awake.
Young Shirou smiled and picked her up, carrying her princess-style. "Come on Mika, it's time to go."
"Go?… Go where?"
"Wherever we want."
It was present-day and Shirou was in his room, packing things he would be needed for a trip that would last a few days, in particular clothes better suited for training. After the meeting with Raiser, it was decided that in the ten days before the game started, they would use their time to train so that they could be better prepared to win. Since they were outnumbered and were facing more experienced opponents, they were at a disadvantage.
Shirou clicked his tongue irritated.
"Why the hell am I thinking about the past at a time like this?" He asked himself annoyed. "Stop worrying about useless shit like that, focus already Shirou, this fight's the one that counts."
The door to his room opened, and Asia stepped inside. "Shirou-san, are you finished?"
Shirou didn't turn around to face her. "Not yet, give me a minute."
"Well, I'm ready and so is Mika-san." Asia informed him.
"Good." Shirou nodded. "We're gonna be gone for ten days, so let's only take what we need."
"Umm… I-Is your hand okay?" Asia asked nervously.
"Yeah, why wouldn't it be?" Shirou asked.
"Well, you punched into Raiser-san flames back there," Asia reminded him. "If you want I could see if it needs healing."
Shirou snorted. "First of all, don't ever add "san" to his name, he doesn't deserve it. Secondly, my hand's fine." He lifted up his left hand. "My hand was covered by the Boosted Gear, so I didn't feel a thing."
Asia sighed in relief. "I see, thank goodness."
Shirou finished packing his things and turned around to face Asia. "Anyway, you shouldn't worry about that, you Should-You…Yoooou-what the crap are you wearing?" He asked deadpan.
Now that he was looking at her, Shirou got a perfectly good view of what Asia was wearing, it was some kind of "Sexy Nurse" outfit, that he never thought he'd seen her in. It had slits on the sides of her white mini-skirt to show off more of her legs and her nurse's top was unbuttoned to show a generous (In relation to Asia's size) view of her cleavage. Shirou sighed.
Asia clearly misinterpreted Shirou's confusion and curiosity for interest and wonder. "I'm glad you like it! Aika-san gave it to me since we were friends now. She told me that the best possible way to repay you for all that you've done for me and to help lift your spirits is that I should wear this while helping you!"
Shirou pinched the bridge of his nose. "Maybe asking Aika to be her friend wasn't the best idea or just a good idea with consequences." Shirou thought to himself. Asia was a good girl and it didn't seem like a good idea to give advice on sexual appeal to a girl who would have been eaten alive if left to her own devices around other teenage boys. "Did Mika see you?"
Asia nodded. "She saw what I was wearing, then smiled and said I should see you quickly."
"Something tells me it was more of a perverted grin than a smile." Shirou thought to himself. "Well whatever, go change."
"Eh? But the Chief said we need to be there as soon as we can."
"Well Rias isn't here and I say change." Shirou responded in impatiently. "Besides, if she were here, she'd tell you the same thing."
Asia didn't want to make Rias and the club wait, but she didn't want to trouble Shirou so she complied. She left to change.
Shirou then took out his phone. "Guess it couldn't hurt." He then dials down a phone number and makes a call, after a few rings the phone picks up.
"Hello?"
Shirou let out a soft sigh, walking down a rocky path.
"You holding up okay?" Kiba asked.
"Yeah, better than most people would by this point." It was only an hour or so into walking up the mountain trail before him that he started to feel a bit annoyed by all this. "I still don't see why I have to carry everything, this feels like a joke at my expense."
"Well from what the Chief said, it would be a good startup." Kiba smiled awkwardly. "Since your strength could match that of a Rook, then this shouldn't be a problem for you."
"That's not the point!" Shirou barked, hunching over beneath, not the weight, but the awkward position of the comically-oversized bag on his back that contained literally everyone's packed belongings. "I mean why am I the only one carrying everything, you'd think I'd just have to carry my own weight instead of everyone's."
Kiba offered a hand. "You want me to help?"
Shirou sighed again. "No, if I do that, then I'll hear more of Rias' nagging on how 'If you can't do something this simple, then you can't defeat our opponents' or something along those lines anyway."
Koneko passed by the two at a faster pace, she also didn't carry her own bag. "…You're lagging, it's not that heavy you know."
Shirou growled and glared at Koneko. "Oh sure, talk is cheap! If it's so easy for you then you do it!" Shirou wanted to follow up but he didn't want to waste energy on this so he kept walking. "Anyway mountain training? Isn't that a little cliché?"
After finishing up with their packing, Shirou and the others meet up with Rias and they all began their long journey to the summit of an unknown mountain range.
"Maybe, but the territory belongs to the Chief's family." Kiba explained. "It's vast and widely uninhabited, making it the perfect place for Devils like us to train."
"I guess…" Shirou sighed again. "I just don't see why we couldn't just teleport there."
"You would've preferred to teleport?" Kiba asked.
"Well yeah, I don't know why we don't when it's more convenient than just normal travel." Shirou pointed out. "And since we're short on time anyway, wouldn't that also speed things up?"
"I suppose you have a point there. But the Chief has spoken." Kiba said with a smile that made Shirou irate.
"Hey you two, pick up the pace." Rias called out from up ahead. "It's just a little bit further! Over the next slope!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
"Shut it would ya! Don't tell me how to walk!"
And that was the end of that conversation.
The rest of the trip passed by in relative silence.
"And here we are!"
The building they stopped at was rather unimpressive in most categories aside from its size, but then again, Shirou had thought the same thing about the Occult Research Club's building before heading inside. He considered exploring the building they would be spending their training days in.
"Well, I'm not that picky, but…" Shirou still looked a little unhappy about this, while approaching the doors to the building.
Rias noticed his expression. "Something wrong, Shirou?"
Shirou shrugged. "It's just, is all this really necessary? Feels like we'll be living in comfort while we train."
Rias raised a brow. "Is there something wrong with that?"
Shirou shook his head. "It's just not what I'm used to, for me hard training also needs a hard environment, making everything about training." They all reached the door. "This place is way too fancy for me to call, a harsh training environment."
"Don't worry, you'll feel more used to it after a while." Akeno said with a smile.
"Hopefully."
They all entered inside.
Once they were all inside and unpacked, they were all in the main dining room.
For some reason or another, everyone was wearing sports jerseys, Rias was wearing a fully red tracksuit, so were Asia and Akeno, while Kiba was wearing a grey tracksuit, Koneko surprisingly enough was just wearing her uniform for gym class, the uniform consists of a white t-shirt with navy blue accents with the Kuoh Academy emblem embroidered on the front-left side, navy blue bloomers and navy blue and white sneakers.
The Tsukiharu siblings were the only two not wearing those things. Instead, Shirou was wearing a loose-fitting white T-shirt, black training pants good for running and free movement, fingerless sports training gloves, and black and white sneakers.
Mika was just wearing her normal casual attire.
Rias spoke up, getting everyone's attention. "Okay, everyone, now that we're all here let's start our training!"
The members of the Occult Research Club looked ready.
Shirou, however, turned to leave. "Yeah well, good luck with that."
Rias noticed his departure. "Wait, where are you going?"
Shirou stopped. "Where else? To train."
"Well then wait here, we're all about to start soon." Rias informed him.
"Rias, I think your misunderstanding something." Shirou then turned to look at her. "I mean I'm going to train without you guys."
[What?]
Both Rias and the others were all surprised by that declaration, though Mika just had a knowing look like she had expected this.
"Don't make me repeat myself, I'm doing this on my own." Shirou then looked at the rest of them. "Look, I've seen you guys fight and in truth, I don't think I can gain much from training with you, besides I've been training none stop, so this ten days thing will just be me picking up where I left off. But you guys hardly train at all. Instead, you just wanted to enjoy the rosy student life and I doubt just ten days of training will instantly fix that, but good luck anyway."
Kiba, Akeno, and Koneko were a little offended by his words, sure they don't train as often as they could have, but they know they aren't weak and yet Shirou was completely dismissing their potential as training partners, though they can't doubt Shirou is stronger than they thought he was, but still.
Rias preempted him by walking out in front of him, blocking his path. "Shirou, I can't let you do that! We only have ten days left to train before the Rating Game and in that time we all need to come together as a team, you might believe in your strength and maybe it is impressive, but this isn't something we can just rush into without preparation, that's why it's in your best interest to train with us, all of us!"
Shirou just stared at her. "Is that a joke? Rias, I told you before, I don't need you." He reminded her. "And I certainly don't need your help with training. Besides even if I did train with them, the results would just take longer to achieve than they would be otherwise."
"What? Why is that?" Rias asked
"Those guys may seem fine to you, but to me, they're too laxed, anytime something happens they can only think about having you come up with an answer, so they don't worry even when they should, they don't act unless Rias says they should, they don't fight unless Rias says they should, they don't train unless Rias says they should." Shirou listed. "And even when they fight and train, they can only fight when you tell them what to do or they can only do the training you set up for them."
Rias narrowed her eyes. "And what's wrong with that? I'm their master and their King, they're supposed to rely on me."
Shirou narrowed his eyes. "Relying on someone and depending on someone are two different things!" He set the record straight. "Because of the way you do things, they've come to depend on you, now no matter what happens they always think 'It'll be fine as long as we believe in Rias' and now they can't do a thing unless you give the word, that's the worst mindset to have on the battlefield. You won't be there the whole time and if things don't go how you expected they won't know what to do next, so unless they learn how to think for themselves, then I won't gain a thing from training with them."
The others felt some of Shirou's words hit home this time, they wanted to deny it but they couldn't exactly say his words didn't have some truth to them. They had never actually been in a real battle before, at best they just hunt Stray Devils and all they ever did was what Rias told them, but looking back on it, they never really made a move until Rias ordered them and all their formations were the ones she thought up of. They didn't have a problem with following her orders but, now they were wondering, had they really become dependent on her.
"But Shirou, don't you see that you're still needed here, you are one of the keys to winning this game." Rias said, not backing down. "Your Sacred Gear along with Asia's healing are two very important factors that could decide the very outcome of this match, but that's why you need to train with us so we can draw out its full potential and know when we're ready."
Shirou didn't budge. "In that case, I'll spend the next ten days training till my life's in danger, then I'll heal up and do it again, then I'll definitely be ready!"
"You don't know if that will work!"
"I'll make sure it'll work! 'Cause like you, I can't afford to lose!"
Their argument was getting heated.
"Just let him go."
They both looked to see whose voice that was. The one who spoke out was Mika.
"Mika?" Shirou raised a brow.
"But he needs to train with us!" Rias still argued.
"Rias, we agreed that I would be the one that decides the strategies for this period of training." Mika reminded her. "And I say it's better to let him go."
"But why? What possible benefit could there be?" Rias questioned.
"You would know if you'd stop being so desperate and think!" Mika silenced her. "Think about it, Big Bro obviously knows what he's doing when it comes to training, you yourself saw that back at the club room and right now he's saying he can go further. If he's the key to our victory then he at least deserves your trust that he can prepare himself, is that too much to ask? A little trust?"
Rias opened and closed her mouth as if she was trying to find the right words. She wanted to argue more but she couldn't deny, that Shirou's training, whatever it is he does, clearly does end up with great results and she had seen it happen, time and time again, Shirou producing amazing results and going beyond her expectations. Mika was right Rias was desperate, but that was because her fate hinged on the outcome of this battle, and yet, her odds were low already so maybe this couldn't hurt for a little bit.
Rias breathed in and then out, then spoke. "Okay, do what you think will work."
Shirou turned. "I don't need your permission," Shirou began walking away. "Good luck, you're gonna need it."
Asia followed after him. "Wait, Shirou-san."
Shirou stopped. "What is it, Asia?"
"I-I knew you want to do this alone, but please at least let me come with you." Asia requested nervously.
"Hmm…" He considered it, and Shirou faced her. "Why not, I might need some healing anyway."
Asia smiled, relieved that he said yes.
"And maybe after a while, you could train with your friends too." Asia suggested, gesturing to the rest of the Peerage.
Shirou turned around again. "My friends?…Hmph, Laughable."
Shirou then walked out the door and outside and Asia followed.
"Asia!" Rias tried to make a move to stop her Bishop, but a firm hand grasped her hand. She turned to Mika. "What?"
"Let her go." Mika said. "Right now my Brother is going to need a healer, considering the kind of training he might do and he'll need someway to calm himself down."
"Calm down? From what?" Rias asked, confused. "He seemed calm to me."
Mika shook her head. "He's trying to hold it in, but I can tell, he really feels pressure right now and that's because he knows what's at stake."
"You mean the bet you made with Raiser?" Rias deduced.
Mika nodded. "Yeah, he'll train twice as hard now and have twice the amount of stress, that's not a good thing." Mika had a worried look in her eyes.
"That's something I've been wanting to ask, why did you make that bet anyway?" Rias questioned, with curiosity. "Why follow Raiser's lead if you knew it would make things worse for your Brother?"
"Because of what Raiser said if we lose then everything you have will be his." Mika reminded her of Raiser's words. "That's why I knew, even if I didn't agree to the bet, the same result would happen if we lose, but I wanted him to know I wasn't intimidated."
Rias processed her words, now understanding her actions. "I see, but in a way, that means you were bluffing."
Mika turned to her. "You're one to talk, you knew we're at a disadvantage and yet you talked like you had some secret plan on how to win."
Rias wanted to retort but decided not to.
"Anyways, forget about that." Mika stared at the Crimson-haired girl. "We should focus on us for the time being. The rest of us are as equally if not less ill-equipped than BroSekai is.
For a moment, it appeared as though Rias would object to Mika's rebuttal, but she instead let out a sigh. "You're right." Everyone was surprised as Rias caved into the young girl's wishes. "Where do we go from here?"
"Well, Kiba and Koneko are the only two who are physical fighters, so in terms of training we could just have them spar with one another, get a firmer grasp on their fundamentals." Mika stated. "The people who I think could use the most work are Asia and myself. After all, in a fight, we're about as useful as house insurance for a homeless man."
Kiba raised his hand to speak. "Mika, not that I don't agree, I'm still confused as to why you're the one who's doing our strategies," He then turned to Rias. "Is there a reason for this Chief?"
"Oh come on Kiba, I assure you it'll be fine." Rias rubbed her chin. "Truth be told, I was skeptical at first. I even tested out her basic skills with normal games of strategy, especially Chess, since Shirou said that was her specialty."
"And?"
"She…" Rias paused. "She far surpassed my expectations. As far as her strategic capabilities go, she is quite impressive."
"That's her way of saying I whupped her real good~" Mika teased.
"It was a close game." Rias argued pettily.
"I literally beat her with my King, don't ask how." Mika said, raising her head up high with an expression of pride on her face. "I'm just that good."
"Anyway." Rias continued. "Mika will be helping us handle tactics and strategies in preparing for the Rating Game, so she will be exempt from physical training. For the rest of you. I've devised regimens to help you increase your power-"
"And I," Mika interrupted, pulling out several sheets of paper from inside her shirt. "Have developed a better training regiment for everyone."
"Excuse me?"
Mika threw the sheets of paper in the air, letting them rain around her fellow Devils. "Rias remember, for this battle, I am the strategist." She smirked in a way similar to Shirou, the type that was breaming with confidence and made his enemy's blood boil. "And as your chief strategist, these are regimens I recommend after carefully analyzing all your abilities, far superior to that paltry dumb muscle growth plan you had. This will guarantee results. Big Bro can handle himself, so this is mostly for all of you."
Rias picked up a piece of paper, examining its contents. "And how exactly did you learn about all our abilities, to begin with?" Her expression became more displeased the longer she stared at the piece of paper. It was not that the information and suggestions were inadequate.
…Rather, they were too adequate. Near perfect analyses of every single one of their abilities.
"No time for talk." Mika said with finality. "Your family is way too fractured and there's nothing that can be done about it at this moment. Let's focus on our training for the time being." Everyone considered for a moment before giving their nods of agreement. "First of there are Kiba and Koneko." The Knight and Rook stepped forward. "We don't have enough time to teach you any specialized techniques or powers, but I have several ideas on how to enhance your fighting performance, so stick around." Then she spoke to the two eldest members of the club, a steely look in her eyes. "As for you two, we have a lot to talk about and a lot to do. Prepare yourselves."
Shirou walked outside through the deep forest in this mountain range. At first, Asia was following him, but he told her he was going to start with some self-training first and told her to stay out of range of the barrier he was going to set up.
After being a few kilometers away from Asia and even further from the house, he felt he was far enough to be safe.
"You can come out now!" Shirou called out.
Suddenly right after his call, there was the ruffling in the bushes, Shirou turned to his right, waiting for what or rather who was in there to come out.
However he was surprised when he saw what it was that came out, as it was not what he was expecting, what came out of the bushes was a brown-furred Wolf, it walked up to Shirou on all fours and stopped a few steps away from him, and Shirou couldn't be sure but to him, it almost looked like the Wolf was smiling.
Shirou blinked. "Uh… Ren? is that you?" He asked, unsure about this.
"Yep, it sure is." To Shirou's surprise, the Wolf responded, in human language, with the voice of his friend Ren.
The surprises didn't stop there, after answering, the Wolf suddenly started to build up energy, and then after a few seconds, there was a puff of smoke that surrounded the Wolf, when the smoke cleared, standing there in place of the brown-furred Wolf, Was Ren Todo dressed in sports training clothes, with his Wolf's ears and tail out.
"Hey Shirou, surprised?" Ren asked, smiling.
Shirou had wide eyes after seeing that. "Yeah! How'd you even do that?"
"It's an ability I have." Ren answered. "I can turn into the animal I have Youkai traits of, like a Wolf for me. And I used that form to follow you guys here without being noticed 'cause." Ren shrugged. "Come on, who'd care about seeing a Wolf in the woods?"
"Yeah, but how long have you had this ability? Can all Youkai do that?" Shirou was still amazed by this new discovery but soon claimed down. "Questions for later, right now I need your help."
"Yeah I can tell but, when you called you just said something was happening and you wanted me to follow you guys." Ren responded. "So what's up, why are we in the mountains?"
"A lot happened, a real lot." Shirou said with a serious expression. "Let me explain."
Shirou then began to explain the events that had transpired back at the Occult Research Club's meeting room, Grayfia being there, Raiser's appearance, the engagement between him and Rias, Shirou's dislike of the man in question, the Rating Game, Raiser's greater numbers and experience, Raiser twisted interest in Mika, the bet between Mika and Raiser that will decide her fate and the ten days they have to train.
"I see." Ren nodded with a serious expression, taking in all this information. "To think all this would happen and so you need to train to win this, is Raiser strong?"
"Based on how everyone keeps hyping him up, I think so." Shirou said begrudgingly. "And more than that he's got firepower, I really feel like getting ready for this."
"So then, should we do our usual training?"
Shirou shook his head. "No, let's do our training with a new level of intensity."
Ren raised a brow. "You really want to train that hard?"
Shirou nodded. "Yeah, no matter what happens, I can't afford to lose."
"I get it, not just for yourself, but you're that concerned about Mika." Ren deduced.
"Yeah." Shirou narrowed his eyes. "I'll train until my fist are bleeding or my bones crack if that's what it takes." He declared. "I won't let that fire dick touch my Sister."
Ren knew he was serious about this. "Okay let's begin."
And with that Shirou put up a barrier around them, the sky and the area around them turned red, and they were the only two in this space around the forest. Once they were here, Ren got into a fighting stance and so did Shirou.
"Okay, let's start by—"
PUNCH!
Shirou didn't get to finish, since while talking he was interrupted when Ren suddenly speed blitzed him and jumped from where he was standing to appear right in front of Shirou and threw a fast punch right at him. Fortunately for Shirou thanks to his fine sharpened reflexes, he reacted in time to block the punch by summoning his Boosted Gear, he and Ren stayed in that position and both smirked.
"Heh, I'm actually surprised you blocked that one." Ren spoke with a smirk. "Though since you could, you might actually be ready in ten days."
"I'm surprised too, Ren." Shirou spoke with the same expression. "Where the hell have you been hiding that speed?"
Ren snorted. "Oh come on now, you should know, I'm a lot stronger than I look."
"Yeah? Well, you're not the only one with something up their sleeve!"
Shirou declared and then outstretched his other arm to form an open palm in front of Ren and then after putting some Demonic power in his hand he fired a gust of wind that blows Ren back a bit through the air, though Ren quickly landed on his feet back where he was before they began, with now worse than some ruffles in his clothes and hair.
"Well now, since when did you learn Wind magic?" Ren asked, curious.
This time Shirou snorted. "Heh, I don't spend all my time training with you, sometimes I work on magic too and that was just one."
This past month, after defeating the Fallen Angels, Shirou saw how useful magic can be in a fight, after using it the kill the first three, Dohnaseek, Kalawarner, and Mittelt. And so whenever he could, he would practice his use of his Demonic power, after being able to use Respond Thunder without Boosting or the help of promotion he started practicing other kinds of magic as well, one of them was Wind magic.
Ren got back into his stance and covered his body in Touki. "This should be fun." He was excited.
"Hey, Ren." Shirou called out, stopping their training for a moment. "I've had something I wanted to ask you for a while now, and I think this might be a good time."
Ren stopped and listened. "What is it?"
"That power your using, you know Touki, you think you could train me on how to use that?" Shirou requested.
Ren thought for a moment before shaking his head. "Afraid not, Touki is a form of Senjutsu, but while Senjutsu can be learned by other races besides Youkai, Touki is a one that is more simple to understand and use, the problem is time, Touki, as well as any other power I have, is something that'll take more than just ten days to learn how to use and master it." Ren explained.
Shirou was irate by this news. "Damn it, and it really would've helped."
"Shirou, I think we should clarify what kind of training you should do." Ren said. "You know all there is to know about fighting, so there's no sense in going down that road again. To beat this guy you need power, you don't have the magic for that, and we don't have time to teach you something new so teaching is out, and you still haven't figured out all the secrets to your Sacred Gear, which is something that we can't train on because we wouldn't even know where to start on that, so that's out." Ren listed. "So what we'll be working on, is good old-fashioned hard juggernaut training. Horse-power, heavy-weighted, cast iron, pile driving punches that'll have to hurt so much, they'll rattle his ancestors, every time you land a blow, it'll feel like they got hit by a fright-train."
Shirou was pumped up and loved the very phrasing of how he said that. "Let's do it!"
Ren covered his body with Touki.
Shirou held up his Boosted Gear.
They both got into a fighting stance.
They charged at each other.
[BOOST!]
CLASH!
"Shirou-san!"
Night had already fallen before Shirou had realized it.
Hundreds upon hundreds of glittering lights filled the night sky.
He took a deep breath. His forehead breaming with sweat and every muscle in his body ached. His veins felt like they were filled with molten lava.
After spending morning till sunset training with Ren, working himself to the bone to get himself stronger and almost making himself too wounded and exhausted to even stand up or lift his arms, he had Asia heal him, spent a few minutes catching his breath, and then jumped back into training, this time on his own. They decided it would be for the best if he spent half of the day training with Ren to build up his strength, power, abilities, and the other half training himself with maximum intensity for as long as he can. Asia was here to fix him back up in case he falls apart.
"Just a few more… Seconds, Asia…" He panted out, wincing.
The former nun looked upon her friend, more worried than when they had first left the group to strike out on their own. "But…" She took a breath, steeling her nerves. "You've done enough. Your body won't last much longer at this pace. I know you think you know what you're doing, but you can't just—"
But Shirou raised his hand and waved her off.
"I said… I'm… I'm fine…"
Shirou's body seemed to lose balance…Then it slowly began to descend to the ground, his head hitting the ground before he blacked out.
"Shirou-san? Shirou-san!"
Training had been progressing.
Things had been going at a reasonable pace for the time being.
Though ever since Shirou left to train on his own the previous morning, the others had to focus on their own work.
Kiba and Koneko were currently sparring with each other as per Mika's regimen, Kiba was able to outpace Koneko in speed, which was the understatement of the year. The fact was Kiba could run circles around Koneko without her being able to see him coming.
The problem was his attacks were soft to her, definitely too soft to be of any concern to a Rook like Koneko with strong durability. And that wasn't his only problem, in terms of physical ability, he was lacking, one or two go blows from Koneko could take him out of the fight.
In short, he was a Glass Sword.
Then there was Koneko. She was strong, incredibly strong for someone as small as herself and her durability were on point to where she could tank most attacks she is hit by.
The problem with that was, that she could barely land a hit on her opponents, she was someone whose style of fighting was too straight forward, punch and tank. But besides pure power and punching whatever is in front of you, she didn't have much skill or coordination. And not just that, whenever she saw an attack coming her way, her response was usually just tank it rather than trying to dodge it.
That wasn't a smart thing to do in a fight since there's no telling how strong to enemy will be or what kind of attacks they'll have, so just letting them hit you, and assuming you can muscle through it could end up being your undoing.
In short, she was a Moving Fortress.
The training they were doing was first: Sparring with each other so they would fully understand each other's way of fighting, be more accustomed to fighting together and fight an opponent that they can work on to better overcome their weakness. The second was: Train individually to better improve yourself and build up both your abilities and mindset that will be ready for battle.
Since these two were the two physical fighters in the group. This training was extremely important to them.
Akeno was doing a different kind of training, she was working on basic training to better sync into her Queen trait.
It's a basic training method. It would be enough for her since in terms of how capable she is, she's arguably the Strongest in the Peerage, maybe even beyond Rias. The problem is that that's only in magic abilities, but as a Queen, she should have the magic of a Bishop, the speed of a Knight, and the strength of a Rook. Even though her Bishop abilities are great, her Knight abilities are still shaky, and her Rook abilities are below standards except in defending. With that, she'll need to train to improve those attributes she's lacking, so that she'll be able to increase her stamina so that her power output would increase as well, that way she'll better sync with her Rook and Knight traits.
Rias, however, wasn't training like the others, instead, she was just with Mika, seeing how well tactics and strategies for the game were going. And in her own words, she was strong enough without training. Something that annoyed Mika a bit.
Shirou panted heavily, sweat dripping from the sides of his face. He covered his mouth with his arm in order to keep the dust out of it.
"Just a little more…"
"Shirou-san, be careful!"
Shirou's expression morphed into frustrated annoyance. "Yeah, I get it, Asia!" He had heard the same thing from Asia at least eight times ever since they first arrived at this area a few hours ago. Just because Shirou had a broken arm and possibly a few ribs and needed to be healed, he had to deal with Asia's nagging about rest and safety. "I just need to push myself a bit further today."
"But Shirou-san, your body is already pushed to its limit." Asia said worriedly as she approached him. "You're still recovering from last night and this morning."
Shirou smirked, jabbing a thumb into his sweaty body. "Thanks to your healing powers, I'm fresh and ready to go."
"But it's not healthy to push yourself like this. You could get really sick. Twilight Healing only heals your physical injuries, not stamina-loss." Asia's puppy dog eyes may convince others, but Shirou was only mildly affected. "At least promise you'll be more careful?"
Shirou heaved a heavy sigh. "Alright fine, I promise." With that, Asia's expression brightened considerably. "Now, will you go ahead and just return to the others, Rias is probably worried about you being left alone with just me and I really don't want to have to go back and hear more of her complaining. Really, the sooner we get this whole thing done the better. I can't wait to rampage against the Chicken."
Asia frowned. "Shirou-san… Can I ask you a question?"
"Might as well, what is it?" Shirou responded, using the break against his breath. He leaned his back against a nearby tree for support. The cool evening air on his brow was also refreshing.
Asia was nervous and thought about how to say this, then she decided to just be open. "Why don't you want to train with the others?"
"Huh? Why would I do that?" Shirou raised his head, raising a brow at Asia.
Asia's feet shuffled nervously in the dirt, the golden-haired girl refusing to meet Shirou's eye. "It's just, wouldn't training be easier if you worked with them?"
Shirou scowled. "I don't need their help, besides they need to train themselves before they're good enough to train with me."
"But Shirou-san, if we're all going to be fighting together then we should make an effort to work together too. If you keep doing everything on your own then how can you work well with the others when the fight begins?"
Shirou didn't answer, more like he was trying to think of one. He seemed bemused and even pensive in his silence for a good ten minutes. As if a part of him didn't want to answer.
"Shirou-san…?"
"It's a complicated answer, Asia." Shirou sighed out, scowling again. "…It's just… Not once did I ever feel like I needed their help."
Asia was a little surprised by that. "You haven't? But why not?"
"Just think about it for a moment would ya." Shirou looked up at the sky. "For as long as I could remember, my life was a constant battle, everywhere I went it was one fight after another. I was okay with that, that was just who I was. But no matter what, I was fighting alone, I always fight alone, everything I did in life I did it without needing anyone's help. And yet, Rias, even though she says she's my master and I should be loyal to her, what possible reason could I have to be? She's never done anything for me and yet she expects my loyalty. I can't stand that."
Shirou tried to turn away, but Asia ran right back in front of him. "But that's not true, even if you think she's done nothing for you, I'm loyal to her because I've only experienced kindness from her and she even put me under her protection, plus the others all believe in her too."
"I don't care about what the others think, whatever reasons they have is their business." Shirou retorted. "Besides those guys are no different from sheep and Rias is the sheepherder, they only do what she says 'cause they literally don't know what else to do. You think I should care about their opinions when they're obviously biased towards her?"
Asia realized Shirou had a point and decided to retract that last statement.
"Anyway, it's easy for you because you don't see the bigger picture." Shirou explained. "Think about it, when I first meet her I had to fight a Fallen Angel with nothing but my fists and even though I almost died to win, Rias only showed up when it was over and what does she do? Make me her servant without my permission and asks for unearned loyalty. Next of all after I saved you from Freed her first reaction was for me to get rid of you and her next one was for me to deal with this problem myself. And finally, when she does decide to help, she shows up after all the fighting is over, all the enemies are dead and you're already saved. Tell me after all that, what about any of that was helpful?"
Asia knew this wasn't going as well as she had hoped, she could understand where he was coming from when he puts it like that Rias hardly sounds like much help. But even so, she knew that despite how he felt he still needed them, and more than that, they needed him. Asia knew without Shirou they had no chance of winning this game.
"Shirou-san, even if all that is true, you needed to understand something too."
"And what's that?"
"Even if she didn't help, the Chief wanted to help." Asia pointed out. "The fact that she came at all, is proof of that and now she needs our help that's why we're all training."
Shirou scoffed. "Not me, I am in no way doing this for her."
"I know, you're doing this for Mika-san, but you still want to win just as much as the Chief don't you?" Asia reasoned. "And you need their help to win this too, even you can't win this alone."
"I'm willing to risk everything trying." Shirou retorted.
"And what will you do when you reach Raiser?" Asia argued. "Even if you could beat him after training, could you still beat him after fighting his entire Peerage, while he's in perfect condition?" Asia than had a pleading look in her eyes. "Shirou-san, if you try to keep going on like this, you're going to break apart. I don't want to see that happen…" Asia's eyes teared up. "…I don't want to see you destroy yourself."
Shirou rolled his eyes over his head. Truth be told, those guy's in the Peerage could be strong enough to be of some help with the right training, and since Mika was the one that came up with the training regimens they're guaranteed to get the best possible training in these next ten days. And thinking about it reasonably, fighting sixteen opponents who could use magic, were used to fighting together and had more experience in this field of battle. That would be a tall order to pull off even for him.
Plus the pleading look in Asia's eyes was really starting to get on his nerves.
"And so, what would you even have me do anyway?" Shirou questioned.
"Show them that you're willing to open up to them." Asia responded, expression brightening up. Inwardly extremely relieved that Shirou was considering it.
"And how, dare I ask, do I do that?"
Asia's eyes were sparkling, and Shirou had the unpleasant feeling she already had something in mind.
"…What?"
"So, these are the Rating Games, huh…"
Rias was almost impressed with how intensely Mika examined the TV screen. The girl had been sitting in a crouched stance on her chair. Only six inches away from the screen. From a normal human's perspective, it would have appeared as some flashy TV show, that the flames crashing down on numerous foes were just some product of well-done special effects and that would have been incorrect.
Kiba and Koneko were still busy with their training while Akeno had finished up early and went to go begin preparing dinner.
Rias and Mika meanwhile had secluded themselves in the study, numerous books on strategy littering the floor and tables around them with videos of Raiser's previous Rating Games playing on the TV screen.
"So, have you gained any new insight into our enemy?" Rias asked.
Mika expressed annoyance at her question. "No, and that answer isn't going to change just because this is the seventh time you've asked. I need more time to analyze his play style."
"I really don't see why we would need a new strategy." Rias complained. "I mean, what was wrong with my original plan?"
"Rias, 'hit Raiser until he gives up' is not a plan." Mika shot Rias a glare out of the corner of her eye. "Why don't you go train like everyone else?"
"Because my power is at a high enough point." Rias answered confidently which still annoyed Mika. "As a noble Devil of the Gremory family and as a High-Class Devil, my power rivals that of even Raiser. For the upcoming battle, there's nothing I could improve on in such a short period of time anyway. Akeno and I together are already prepared. Kiba, Koneko, and Shirou, on the other hand, are inexperienced."
"And you've never participated in a Rating Game." Mika pointed out gluing her eyes back to the TV screen. "So you're basically on even ground, you're also inexperienced."
Rias could not consider a response to Mika's words. They were indifferent and the one saying them sounded distracted, mainly because Mika was more focused on the TV screen. But they were not necessarily inaccurate. After all, as a young Devil, Rias was not permitted to take part in Rating Games. There was still a notable gap in experience between her and Raiser. Her battles mostly ever comprised of sparring with Akeno or other members of the Gremory household's staff or dealing with Stray Devils that dared to infest her territory. There had been occasional scuffles with other nobles, but she had never been in an official confrontation involving her Peerage and that of another Devil.
"I'd feel more confident if your Brother would decide to cooperate with the rest of us."
"I told you not to worry, Big Bro knows what he's doing." Mika argued in a daze.
"But there's a lot at stake in this Rating Game."
"There's a lot at stake for him too. If we lose, I become Raiser's sex slave."
"Well, I don't know about "sex slave" but—" Rias paused. "Oh who am I kidding, Raiser is that depraved. You would be royally screwed."
Mika paused… Both physically and the video. She didn't say a word.
"I mean… I don't mean "screwed" like…" Rias, however, quickly caught on looking aghast. "…I am sorry."
Mika didn't respond, pressing play to continue the video.
Realizing the young girl had no intention of speaking further on that particular subject, Rias sighed in relief. However, she could not help but feel restless, trying to vent her excess energy by pacing around the room.
"Shirou's like a new clock with too many parts." Rias groaned. "I have no idea what makes him tick."
Mika still said nothing.
"And every time I THINK I'm getting a good idea on how to talk to him, he shows even more parts that make it harder to understand him. You would think the fact that he has a stake in this would make him MORE cooperative with training, but no!"
Mika still said nothing.
"If anything, he seems to look at us as if we'll only get in his way for this upcoming game. How can we possibly work together as a team, if he doesn't even see our participation as a factor?!"
Mika still said nothing.
"I just…" Rias let out another frustrated sigh. "I just don't know what to do with him. I know he's not a terrible person. After all, he did rescue Asia and he fights to protect her and you against anything, but sometimes he can JUST be…I don't even know! He's always so arrogant and acts like he can do everything on his own, even though it's extremely reckless and this time we really need him to win this battle!"
Mika still didn't say anything, but her silence seemed a little harsher somehow.
Eventually, Rias decided to stop pacing, turning to the younger Tsukiharu. "Look, you know your Brother better than anyone. How can I possibly get him to like me, or at the very least, work with me this one time?"
For a brief period of time, it looked like Mika would still persist in ignoring Rias. However, after seeing the genuine plea in Rias's gaze, Mika let out her own frustrated sigh, pausing the video on the TV.
"Look, Rias—"
"I know, you're busy working on our battle strategy." Rias said pre-emptively. "But this is really important, for all of us as a group and despite the fact that we don't always agree, I don't want Shirou and the rest of us to be in a constant state of disagreement, if there's a way for us to work together better, then I want to know it!"
.
.
.
"You done?" Mika asked, unimpressed. "Or do you want to wait so you can interrupt me again?"
Rias took several deep breaths to calm down before nodding. "Sorry."
Mika sighed again. "I'll make this simple: The problem is, you assume he doesn't like you."
"…What?"
"You think it's hard to understand, but it's not." Mika continued. "Big Bro isn't training alone because he doesn't want to cooperate with you, he's doing it because he truly believes that the way he's training is the way that'll get him ready for the Rating Game, and he intends on keeping it that way."
"But what if whatever training he's doing, could be done better if he did it with the rest of us?"
"That's another problem you have, Rias, when the chips are down you don't believe in him at all."
Rias raised a brow at that statement. "What? That's not true at all."
"Yes, it is." Mika argued. "Think about it, ever since he became a Devil, no matter who he fought or who he defeated, every time he would fight someone, you always thought he would lose. When he was a Human, he beat a Fallen Angel but you thought he would lose next time. When he told you he was fighting a Priest, you were surprised he even survived much less won. When the Fallen Angels were after him, you assumed he would die, even though he beat all of them. And when you heard he was going to storm the Church to save Asia, you rushed in thinking he would lose even though he brought the place down on his own." Mika listed. "He won every time and yet you kept thinking he wouldn't."
"But…But I…" Rias tried to deny her claims. "But I was just worried about him."
"Then what about right now?" Mika asked. "He told you he's been training for a month and you saw how much he'd improved and yet despite that, despite how much he believes he can do it, you still don't believe at all. Think about how frustrating it is to have someone show time and time again how strong they are and yet they won't even put a little faith in you."
Rias was at a loss for words. She never even considered any of this before now. But thinking back she started to wonder. Had she really made Shirou feel that way. Was her attitude towards him gone from concern to a total lack of faith?
"Then…Then what do think I should do?"
"Look just, the next time Bro-For-One says he can handle something, then just believe he can, alright." Mika advised her. "Just believe, even if it's only a little."
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
"Enter." Mika stated in response to the knocking.
There was a soft click as the doorknob turned and the door was pushed open, revealing Akeno, dressed in her jersey and sweat pants. Contrary to her usual circumstances, her normal smile was strangely absent. In its place was a stunned expression.
"Um… Chief? Mika?"
[Yes?]
"I was…Erm… Told to fetch you for dinner." The Queen said, her tone rather uncertain in her own words. "I…um…I'm not quite sure what to say."
"Did something happen in the kitchen?" Rias asked, brow raised. "Was there some sort of accident?"
"No, nothing like that." Akeno answered. "It's more of… Well, you'll see it for yourself soon enough. I've already sent one of my familiars to fetch Kiba and Koneko. They'll be with us shortly."
Rias glanced at Mika.
"We may as well. It's not like this conversation will become productive anytime soon." Mika said.
But in truth, Mika was curious. Rias could see that well enough.
What was so bemusing that even someone as normally collected as Akeno would pause so many times?
It must be something amazing.
And that's the chapter. Now first of all, in case you're wondering about what you saw at the beginning of the chapter, well. Remember the last arc on Chapter seven. It showed that when Shirou was ten, he joined a group of people after killing someone. This was one year later after that where he left. I wanted it to show insight into some of Shirou's background, like why he has habits like smoking and drinking. How he's so strong, and why he and Mika can live the way they do without concern.
Anyways for the training, Shirou's doing two different kinds. By day he trains with Ren to get better at fighting and become stronger. And by night he trains on his own to become better at using his power and buffing up after working at maximum intensity.
And Shirou wants to train alone because of, well his Pride, but also because he can't let the others find out about Ren and since they're training twice as hard as they've been all this time, then it's the best possible training he can do.
Anyways thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed, if you want more be sure to leave a review if you liked the story click the follow/favorite, and as always have an awesome day.