A/N - About the last chapter; I've made a mistake regarding the sword in Shidou residence, which in fact wasn't an Excalibur fragment but a Holy Sword with the name Hauteclere. This error has now been fixed.
Regards for Sunfang193 for pointing that out! :)
You also brought up a pretty good point when you mentioned the Gear, Telos Karma.
Enjoy the chapter and please Follow, Favorite and leave a Review or I'll summon the Great Red on yeh! ;)
No seriously; Reviews are the only thing that keeps an Author motivated!
All mindless flames will duly be ignored (like all immature shits (Trolls) of the community should be), but constructive criticism is highly welcomed if it means I could potentially improve the quality of my story.
Disclaimer: I don't own Highschool DxD it belongs to its respective owner.
I only own the SIOC.
BETA-Read by Million Arthur The Yuri King!
Speech: "What"
Thoughts / Inner speech: 'What'
Speech in non-japanese language: "What"
Demonic/Distorted voices: "What"
Tiamat Speech: [What]
青竜帝 - SEIRYUUTEI
THE BLUE DRAGON EMPEROR
=CHAPTER 2.5=
=LOST BONDS=
-Hyoudou Residence-
-Hiroshi 1 year, 3 months old-
My mind right now... was in a state of deep distress...
"*Hic!* Uwaaah~!"
"What's wrong with him?" Came the worried calls of Kei̷̢̙͇͆̎̈͐̉̒͑͜͜͝—̸̞̀̅͒͝͠F̶͎͖͖̫̂̓̅̕͠a̵̞̦̍̋T̷̬̩̖̐̈́͒̀́̈́͗̚͘͜H̵̝̹̥̠̱͔̣̦͐è̷͍͔̟̻̭̬͗͊͒r̶̳̠͑ ̶̡̦̮͇͌͑̽͠͝, who stood over me right beside equally distressed woman, who at the moment was the one holding me in her arms.
"I don't know! This is the first time I've even seen him cry since his birth... Shh~ It's alright, mommy is here Hiro-Chan... Everything is alright, shh~" Harǔ̵̷̸̸̸̱̼͙̙͔̓̊͊̕—̵̵̶̵̶̨͙͖̫̝̒̅̾͗̂M̶̸̷̵̷̜̝̖̟͎̽̓̾̃̀o̴̶̵̶̴̢̮̳͍̟̍̌̎̓̚T̴̴̸̸̶̛̩̻̙̭̰̀̂̂͗h̵̷̵̸̷̻̘̠͔̦͌͆̅̈́̐Ȩ̷̵̴̵̴̧͚̤̎́̍̏̕͜ṙ̷̷̴̷̵͎̟̭̟͎͛̀́̕ ̷̴̵̶̵̖͉̼̽͑̄̕͠ͅ held me and tried to sooth me as she gently rocked me back and forth.
Yes... I was crying... Normally I wouldn't express my depression so vocally and would usually box such emotions in (a bad habit I know) or simply cry in silence, but as I am now with this body I simply couldn't hold it in... Funny how fast baby instincts can take you over where a single sob evolves into a full blown cries in a heartbeat...
Within these 16 months, as days went by I could honestly say that I was truly coming to enjoy this new life I was given, with no worries whatsoever (at least for the next 16(?) years until the canon events start) and yesterday was no exception!
This morning however... Something horrifying occurred to me...
It started out with me having some melancholic dream about my past life, my family to be more precise, which caused me to wake up in cold sweat the second I saw the faces of those what should've been my former family members...
The lack of them thereof...
Their faces were pitch black... As in completely void of any form of facial texture...
Hence why I ended up waking up this morning with a startled gasp. The dream made me deeply troubled, so I made an attempt to reminisce the times I spent with my old family; only to realize that... I couldn't...
I mean, I still possessed all the knowledge and experience of my past life, which I could remember clear as day! Mundane things, such as what my favorite food was; what music I liked to listen; what movies and animes I've gotten to see so far; how much I disliked my job; all of that and more!
However...
When it came to my former parents, siblings, relatives, friends, ANY people I've had past connections with... Just gone...
No faces. No names. Nothing...
I couldn't even remember my OWN name!
But why...?
Why now all of sudden?
And why didn't I notice this until now!?
I honestly thought I've had come to terms with my death, along with the fact I was never going to see my old family again, back when I was still inside my new mother's womb... But that time I still could at least remember them!
At this point all I knew anymore is the general idea of what type of life I've led and what the people I've spent time with were like and that's about it...
My past life may not exactly be something to brag about; but the days I spent with my family were still the fondest ones I've had!
I didn't want to forget them...
"Shh~ Please don't cry Hiro-chan..." Harụ̸̧̮̖̳̈́̄́͘͘ń̵̨̻̖̹̗̲̹̹̐—̸̢̘̦͓̳͕̃̈̃̎̚ ̷̡̀͆͠M̴̡̥̟͇̝̫̯͓͆ǒ̷̲̜̹̖̦̇̿͜t̶̡̨̯̫̣̱̹̤͔̀h̶̢̰̯̣̬͇̲̝̲̪̐͋ę̴͍̣͉̖̾ŕ̴̫̜̭͈̿͌̈́̊̃̕̕̕͝ͅ 's words were the last thing I heard before the exhaustion caught up to me and her warmth lulled me into sleep.
You truly do not realize what you've lost until its gone, eh...
=CHAPTER 3=
=KANJIS ARE BULLSHIT!=
-Hyoudou Residence-
-Hiroshi 4 years 5 months old-
It's been around 3 years since the episode I had regarding my past memories and things were looking up to me once more.
The fact that I no longer could remember my old family nor friends was indeed a hurtful pill to swallow, but I got over it soon enough when I decided to focus on present instead of wallowing in the past. (Don't wanna end up as some emo after all)
Although if there was something that changed within me after that day was that I no longer referred mom or dad by their names (in my head) anymore...
Speaking of our family; My dad was basically doing an average salesman's work, with a decent salary. My mom on the other hand, since my and Ise's birth, had quit her own job to become a housewife in order to take care of the household and the kids (aka us). I could still somewhat remember the conversation she had with our father that she simply couldn't trust her kids with some unknown nannies, thus is why the nursery schools were also out.
While dad was indeed the one who makes the most of our living, but luckily mom also managed to produce some cash on the sidelines from our neighbors, the Shidous, whenever they brought Irina over for babysitting at the times when both of them gets called over for work and are simply unable to look after Irina. Not sure about Maria, but with Touji's line of work as an Exorcist, he definitely wouldn't be bringing Irina along...
Anyhow, with dad being our only source of income and how the Shidous were often busy with work; Maria had offered us monetary compensation for taking care of her daughter since (like mom) she'd always prefer to have someone she fully trusted with Irina over someone she didn't even know. Of course at first mom tried to decline the payment as she would've been more than happy to babysit Irina for free, however mom eventually relented after a lot of insistence on Shidou Matriarch's part. The fact Maria didn't even consider taking an advantage over the friendship they had between Hyuoudou-Shidou families certainly earned good deal of brownie points from me.
Her kiddie-kiddie tone still annoys me though...
We certainly may not be the richest of folks, but I can easily say that I— no, WE were content with what we have now.
*Cue DBZ narrator voice*
And back to the hero of the story, namely ME; right now my face was scrunched up in a deep concentration as I glared down at the adversary before me.
That being—
*Back to normal voice*
"Tori ga to-n-de-ki-ta (鳥が とんできた, / A bird flew down)—"
Japanese language... in the form of text...
"So-shi-te (そして / And)— Hmm... Mom? What does these two signs mean?" I asked my mother as I craned my neck to look directly above my head to meet her eyes. Both of us were currently seated by the kitchen table with few books laid across the said piece of wood ware. I on the other hand was again occupying her comfy, trademarked lap, while the said woman had her arms around my waist like usual.
Mom smiled down at me. "Lets see..." She broke our gaze and proceeded to lean over my shoulder for a better look at the literature before us.
That's right, I was learning to read Hiraganas, Katakanas and Kanjis with mom's teaching!
Interesting thing about japanese literature is the way how they are read backwards (from right to left), compared to the western counterparts. It's also worth mentioning that the text alignment in japanese books is often written vertically. To sum it up; you start the book from right side and read the text from top to bottom and slowly progress towards left end of the said book.
Anyhow, speaking and understanding japanese speech is one thing, but their written language is basically on a whole league of its own! Hiraganas were the easy part, but the kanji... Oh God the kanjis were an absolute torture to learn, considering how many of them exists in the first place, how a single Kanji could potentially mean multitude of things and how the damn pronouncing method can vary with each kanji!
So word of advice; if you are not one hundred percent committed to learn the language, then do not even bother if you wish to save yourself from the skull-splitting headache! But then again this is coming from a guy who had learned to speak japanese solely by watching anime...(1)
In my previous life (other than games) reading has easily been one of my favorite pastimes ever since I've graduated from high-school, and since non-translated western books are more or less considered (to my understanding) a rarity in Japanese stores, so I'd like to get my reading skills up to par to be able to read some fine novels again.
With that determination in mind; I went straight for mother and bluntly asked her if she could teach me to read (again). Needless to say I've never seen a person get that ecstatic, whenever I've asked anyone for help in teaching me something... I suppose this is one of those proud parent moments, when their child shows willingness to learn something new? I honestly have no idea...
While I was at it, mom tried to teach my twin alongside with me (which I wouldn't have minded one bit) and Ise was interested at first, but the lazy rascal only took one look at the complex looking letters and signs, before he duly declined the offer with a distasteful look and a solid "Meh~" before he went back to the television (located by the wall of the living room right opposite to our couches) to finish the cartoon he was watching! Not to mention the disappointed look of my mother genuinely made me want to go after Issei and whack his skull for it. But I let it go with a sigh since I understood that kids our age weren't supposed to be studying yet, and instead be outside and play around with mud and shit. (Hopefully not literally with the latter, but you never know what goes in the head of these little demons...)
I'm really protective of our mother, so sue me.
Back to the present however...
"Hmm, the first one here—" Mom brought a hand up to point at one of the kanjis I pointed out with a finger "-is the kanji for kanashimi (悲 / sadness)." She pronounced the word slowly so I'd get the word properly. I nodded and repeated the word after her just to show her that I'm in the same page as her (pun not intended). "However, here you need to take a note of the two hiraganas that comes right after it, so the word should be pronounced; 'Kana-shi-ii (悲しい)'. With me so far?"
"Hai kaa-chan" I nodded again. This is what I really love about my new mother. Whenever I get her to teach me anything, she never treats me like a child (like Maria always does...), since she genuinely understands that that kind of stuff only irritates the heck out of me, along with the fact that she sees me as a clever child who understands words that would normally be considered too complicated for a normal kid.
Mom smiled at me in response. "Very good, honey. Now then, as for the second kanji over here, it means tora (虎 / tiger)." Mom calmly explained to me, her smile never leaving her beautiful face. In response I gave her a smile of my own in gratitude before my focus went back at the part I had problems with.
"So-shi-te, to-ri ga kanashi-ii tora-o gen-ki-ni ha-ji-me-ta (そして 鳥が 悲しい 虎を 元気に はじめた / And the bird began to cheer sad tiger up)" Once I've managed to finish that sentence up from the book (basically some random storybook for children); I felt as if all the air was getting squeezed out of my lungs for how tightly mom hugged me.
"Well done, Hiroshi! I'm so proud of you!" Needless to say I felt my face heat up quite a bit from how she showered my face with kisses and the way how her breasts pushed against my back didn't exactly help my case either. Tough, flustered I may be, but even so I didn't exactly make any attempts to push her away...
I blame it on my current body, that enjoys all forms of physical affection whenever it came to my mother...
"Thanks mom... Though that bird is kinda stupid..." I remarked absentmindedly. With mom's help I managed to read a good few pages of this children's book (somewhat) by myself, but the story is just fucking BLEH~! I know I need to start from the basics, namely kiddie books due to the simple writing they have, BUT the fact that still remains is that overly kid-friendly factors in any stories only makes me want to fucking hurl!
Back in my old world, looking at the modern cartoons only made me seriously debate whether the cartoons' developers actually attempts to turn innocent children into autistic(2) retards for how they try to make everything so child-friendly to the point of being utterly ridiculous! One fine example is how the Finnish community decided to re-rate the certain (borderline iconic) Finnish cartoon, Moomin(3), the mothafucking MOOMIN of all things into R18 material, JUST because one of the characters smoked a pipe in the show...
Still though; My first cartoon, which also happened to be an anime, Hopeanuoli or "Ginga: Nagareboshi Gin" as it is originally called. A story about badass dogs that are in war against some murderous bears, weird sounding concept I know, but regardless the show was fucking awesome! Anyhow in the show blood was spilled practically at every corner and back then it was still rated safe enough for kids to watch, yet if you look at me I think I turned out just fine! I may have been considered slightly antisocial, but that certainly didn't turn me into some lunatic who just kills all his problems...
Point of my rant?
One; Cartoons of the old days were the good shit
Two; TV-shows and games don't make kids violent; bad parenting does! (Or people in general...)
I was brought out of my musings when I heard the lecturing tone of my mother. "Why? The birdy wanted to help the sad tiger did it not? Showing kindness by no means makes anyone stupid, hun."
In response I looked up to meet her gaze and true enough she was frowning down at me in confusion of my words. Probably not liking how her son mocks the kind character of the book.
A snort escaped my lips. "Mom... It's a tiger..."
"Huh? What does that have to do with anything?"
This time I deadpanned at her. "We're talking about an eleven foot carnivore, that could sla— *cough!* trash a man within a second..." I was about say slaughter, but quickly corrected that since I knew mom wouldn't appreciate such crude terms. "So with that in mind; the bird must either have a death wish or is just that challenged in mental department to even think of approaching something that should by all rights eat it..." I finished with a slight huff.
The owlish expression on my mother's face right now was absolutely priceless. "Sometimes Hiroshi... you are really making me question myself whether you really are a four years old..."
I grinned up at her in a mischievous way. "Perhaps I'm an evil midget who slipped into this household and am just wearing your son's skin to impersonate him?" I spoke in an exaggeratedly ominous tone all the while I raised my hands to my head-level and wiggled the fingers as if I was telling a spooky story.
She rolled her eyes in amusement at my antics before she flicked my forehead. "Ow..." It didn't really hurt, but it made me blurt the word out by an instinct.
"Alright, enough of that mister wise-guy." Mom said with a shake of her head. "But why a midget of all things?"
I shrugged my shoulders in nonchalance. I honestly pulled that one right out of my ass.
Mom sighed at my response, before she took a better look at me. "I'm curious though, where have you learned such advanced vocabulary from? I mean despite being four you could already make most of the second-graders look inadequate in comparison."
I made thoughtful pose at first. "Hmm, I'd say innate talent, BUT—" I closed my eyes and shifted my stance into a proud one by puffing my chest and placing my hands to my waist. "Movies are a great inspiration!" I stated with a firm nod.
*Smack!*
I heard a palm slapping against skin, then as a I opened my eyelids to peek above; I noticed that mom had performed a facepalm on herself. "You've found your father's movie stash didn't you?"
"Nooooo~" I replied in highly unconvincing manner and suddenly found the television (Issei was watching) across the room far more interesting.
To be fair, dad had a great taste in movies and it did somewhat give me a good excuse for my advanced speech.
-Some minutes later-
After that previous ordeal we resumed with my reading studies and as I went through the pages; all of sudden one kanji (大) in particular took my sudden interest, which (to me) had the shape of a Shikigami paper doll that I've seen in one of those Onmyoji-based animes before.
"Neh, neh kaa-chan? How about this one?"
Mom raised an eyebrow before she once more leaned down to see the Kanji I was pointing at this time. Once she recognized it she smiled brightly down at me. "That dear; stands for greatness."
"Greatness?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, or anything big in general. This kanji is often used whenever you refer something large, someone of great importance, such as Daiō (大王 / Great King), daikōtei (大皇帝 / Great Emperor), someone's maturity, otona (大人 / grown up) and even—" She went through a bunch of examples how the 大 Kanji could be pronounced, making me more dizzy in the brain with each word... Then after a while she once more met my gaze, making me narrow mine in response. There was something about that look that made me a bit suspicious. "But it is also very often used when you wish to emphasize your feelings verbally. For example—" Okay, judging by her cheshire grin; something was definitely up now!
"Dai-suki da yo (大好きだよ / I love you) Hiro-chan~!"
DOKI~!
I hastily placed a hand over my chest, my heart literally skipping a beat from the sheer emotion I felt behind her words.
Oh she emphasized the feeling alright...
I averted my eyes, feeling rather bashful all of sudden. "D-don't say things like that out of blue, Kaa-Chan! It's bad for my heart!" I managed to utter out.
Mom definitely took enjoyment from my flustered expression, judging the way she was laughing at my remark. "Haha~! You are just adorable, come 'ere you~!" She said as she proceeded to pull me into another one of her bear hugs.
Geh! Mom! Your love is literally killing me now!
"But as a matter of fact, Hiroshi; your very name is written in that kanji." (4) She suddenly taught me, while still clinging onto me.
I blinked at that tidbit of detail. "Eh? Really?"
"Hai!" She loosened her grip (thank God!) and reached for a pencil that was resting near at the edge of the table. Once she grabbed it; she proceeded to write something in the blank corner of the book we were reading. Le Gasp! My Gawd mom! Thee dares to doodle in teh books!? Okay enough sarcasm for now.
"Here." Mom finally said once she finished with whatever she was writing. I leaned over to look at it and duly raised a brow at it.
兵藤 大
"This is?" I inquired.
"This is how your name is written in full Kanji." She pointed the 兵藤 portion with a finger. "Hyoudou—" And now moved the said digit over my apparent namesake 大. "Hiroshi."
"Bu— how does it even... From Dai to— *whimpers* Ughh, my head hurts..." I lamented and smacked my forehead against the kitchen table.
Kanjis are fucking bullshit I tell you!
I could hear mom giggling at my mindblown demeanor behind me as she ruffled my hair softly. "It gets easier with practice." Mom assured me, in which I let a miserable groan in response.
"Nii-san, mama." Ooh! Just the distraction I needed from this BS!
Well met brother!
Mother and I (raised my head from the table) turned our attention to my twin in unison.
As far as our appearance goes; if you didn't know us beforehand you would barely be able to tell us apart, but nowadays we at least had one physical feature we can be differentiated by.
Our hair.
To be more specific; our hairstyle and its color. (with the latter being far harder to distinguish, depending on the lighting)
While Issei and I otherwise had the exact same hairstyles, but back at our necks where Issei had this extra tuft of hair coming out; I on the other hand kept that region short, where the nape of my neck was left bare on the most part. Other slight difference is that my hair was about a tone or two darker than Issei's.
"Yes, honey? Did the cartoon end?" Mom was the one who responded first.
Issei nodded at mom's inquiry. "Um. I was wondering if we could go out and play at the park?"
Mom smiled at Issei's request. "Of course we can, Issei! Want to invite Irina along?"
Issei beamed happily. "Yup!"
Mom then turned her attention to me. "How about you Hiroshi? You've already made amazing progress with your reading skills, so this should be enough studying for one day, yes?"
I shrugged in casual manner, but made sure to give mom a smile in return. "I'm fine with it. I suppose it beats sitting in the house all day." I said as I jumped off my mother's lap down on the floor. But immediately after my expression turned drier than a desert, when the irony behind the words struck me...
Oh right, I was practically what the japanese call a Hikikomori(5) in my past life... Only reason I even went outside my house anymore was to make living for myself...
"Nii-san? Why the funny face?" Issei asked with tilt of his head before he narrowed his eyes on me. "Did you drop a doo-doo?"
Mom gasped at that. "I-is this true, Hiroshi!?"
Needless to say I nearly choked on spit while my face turned crimson at my brother's accusation, especially when mother seemingly bought it! I turned to my brother with heated look. "N-NO YOU DUMBASS I WAS— *Whack!* OW!?" I immediately held my head in pain when I felt something metallic hit it. I could already tell the corner of my eyes were tearing up. I whimpered. "Sonova bi—*Whack!* AAGH! FU—!?*WHACK!* ITAIIH!?" I get painfully cut off whenever I was about to cuss. Sure I tend to get rather potty mouthed whenever in pain, but this was starting to piss me off! "GRR! WOULD YA KNOCK IT O-ooooff..." I was about snap, but my voice immediately toned down in a quiet drawl the second I looked up and saw my mother's expression...
I gulped and felt myself sweating buckets...
It was at this moment... I swore I saw a demon... mother's whole body was surrounded in a dark aura, her eyes freaking glowing in an ominous red color and her right hand was holding a— was that a ladle? Where the fuck did she even pull that out from!?
I yelped and stood completely straight when the woman placed her free hand on my right shoulder and proceeded to lean down so that her face was only a few inches apart of my own. "WhErE dId YoU lEaRn SuCh LaNgUaGe YOuNg MaN." Mom interrogated her voice outright demonic!
JEESUSVITUNKRISTUS!(6) Mama-Haruna is scary as fuck!
"T-T-To-Touji-ojisan desuu~~!" I practically screamed in a really high pitched, girly voice and didn't even hesitate to throw our neighbor under the bus...
"That man and I will have words..." Mother freaking growled like feral animal!
Sorry old man (not really), but better you than me!
"Hiroshi!" She then turned her furious gaze back towards me.
"Y-y-yes, Ma'am!" I blurted out in an instinct and stood even straighter (if that was even possible) in attention.
"Apologize to your brother for what you called him!" She sternly ordered, her off-hand placed over to her hip, while waving the ladle at me.
"Aye Ma'am! Right away Ma'am!" I swiftly turned in place to face my brother, who was equally spooked by our mother. "Gomenasai(7) desu Issei!" My words came out at the pace of machine gun, as I bowed at him repeatedly.
Issei sweatdropped as she looked down at me with an awkward expression. "Uuh, i-it's okay nii-san. I forgive you."
Once Ise said that, mom did an immediate 180 in her personality as she smiled at us in a delighted manner. "Splendid! Now both of you get ready and we'll be heading out within 15 minutes."
"AYE!" Both of us said in a unison with a salute.
With a serene smile she patted us both in the head (which made me notice that the Ladle Of Doom vanished somewhere...). "Good boys." With that she removed her hands and moved upstairs, likely to dress herself up as well for a proper outwear.
Once mom was out of sight, I and Issei let out a breath we didn't know we were even holding till now and slouched forward with exhausted looks.
"Mama is scary..." Issei decided to state the obvious...
"Aye..." I responded, still in squeaky tone.
"N-nii-san, y-you okay?"
"I think... I may need a fresh pair of underwear..."
Issei's face scrunched up. "D-did you go—"
"Yes, Ise... I think I did..." I admitted with a facepalm.
.
TBC
AN - That's a wrap, hope ye guys enjoyed! ^^
Really sucks that this will be my last week of vacation though... T_T *sob!*
I DON WANNA GO BACK TO WORK~~!
Hiroshi harem list:
(Image in my profile; Updated!)
- Irina
- Akeno [Confirmed!]
Admittedly, quite plenty of my Reviewers had a rather easy time to guess, in which harem she's gonna get dropped into due to her not showing up in Issei's list below. :P
- Kuroka [Confirmed!]
Consider this reveal as my form of compensation for likely breaking the hearts of all Koneko fans for not bringing her into Hiroshi's harem. (Small reasoning for this written below.)
- Secret!
- Secret!
- Secret!
- Secret!
- Secret!
- Secret!
.
Issei harem list:
(Dayum, there certainly was a quite a bunch of requests for Koneko to be passed over to Hiro's harem instead of Issei. 0_0)
(Although, while admittedly you guys have a good point that Koneko would likely get more easily attracted to someone like Hiroshi, due to him not being a pervert like Issei. However do note that Hiroshi will have a rather picky tastes in women, so it is very likely that Hiroshi would see Koneko as an adorable AF sister figure at best. BUT I suppose as compensation I can reveal that Kuroka will DEFINITELY go to Hiroshi!)
(Now then, with that out of the bag... PRAISE FOR THE FLAMES! )
- Rias
- Koneko
- Xenovia
- Asia
- Ravel
- Secret!
- Secret!
- Secret!
(1) This part funnily enough is actually based on me. I bullshit you not!
(2) Just putting this here to assure you; I have nothing against people who suffers from autism.
(3) Just Google it, Moomin is basically as kid friendly cartoon as one could freaking get...
(4) Hiroshi's name in kanji "大" was mostly based on a certain game character who had the same name, so if in case I fucked up the explanations badly I apologize in advance... Although do note that this specific Kanji has a variety of different meanings and that the same goes with the name Hiroshi, which also has its own list of meanings, depending which Kanji it is written in...
(5) Hikikomori are reclusive adolescents or adults who withdraw from social life.
(6) "Jeesus vitun kristus" is Finnish wording for "Jesus fucking Christ!"
(7) Gomenasai = I'm sorry