1-1 Unusual Circumstances

Kuoh Town. It was rather large for a place called a Town, just barely reaching a population size on the level of a small City. Kuoh is naturally isolated from anywhere else in Japan thanks to being built in the midst of the Akaishi Mountains; somewhere between Shizuoka and Nagano Prefecture. This natural isolation did not stop Kuoh from enjoying amenities from the modern world. In the beginnings of Kuoh's planning, extensive funding was set aside to build underground lines that would connect the town to the Shizuoka and Mikawa-Anjo Stations of the Tokaido Shinkansen. This allowed for Kuoh to remain in touch with the rest of Japan.

If you asked someone who lived outside of Kuoh what they thought about it, they'd probably tell you that it was a place where the best and brightest lived; a place where some would give their firstborn child just to have a chance at living there. A place where you could get the best education from preschool to university, and where you could find the hottest women around (which actually mattered to quite a lot of people, go figure). It was clear to the outsiders looking in that Kuoh was no ordinary place. And it really wasn't.

The planning behind Kuoh was sanctioned by Japan's Shinto pantheon and Youkai faction, led by Lady Amaterasu and Lady Yasaka respectively. The territory is on loan from them to the Devils of the Abrahamic religions, so that the Underworlders could coalesce talent in a single place to ease the struggles of young Devils looking for the perfect members for their Peerages. That was the idea on paper, anyway. Nowadays you could hear mumblings amongst the Devils that Kuoh was really set up for the sake of one Rias Gremory because her older brother—and one of the four leaders of Devilkind—loves her a little too much.

Regardless of who you ask, Kuoh at the end of the day is still a place where talent is gathered. Sometimes, however, less than ideal individuals would end up living in Kuoh proper. One such example can be found in a young man by the name of Daichi Takahashi.

Daichi was someone descended from new money. His parents were investors with a keen insight on trends, individually allowing themselves to ascending from middling social status. They met one night during a party, and that one night was more than enough to spawn Daichi out of wedlock. His parents married soon after and moved to Kuoh where the three lived happily. Daichi's parents tried to give him the world—which didn't take much all things considered, just good food—and so he generally grew up without knowing want.

When Daichi was in the last year of middle school, tragedy struck the Takahashi. Returning from an evening date to rekindle their passion for one another, Genzo and Aoi Takahashi became the latest victims in a string of murders perpetrated by a Stray Devil. All that remained of Daichi's parents were their wedding rings, identified by the names inscribed on the inside.

The happy household was no more.

In order to not succumb to the pressures of living life without a family, Daichi clung to his studies like a ghost possessed. His father always chided him to at least try to achieve a higher standard, even though both knew that Daichi was not exactly gifted with smarts. Still, Daichi gave himself the task of being the best academically. It was his own way of coping.

Friendships and health fell to the wayside as Daichi slowly climbed the rankings in his middle school. By the end of year, Daichi was in the top five-percent and was personally given a scholarship to Kuoh Academy—which was to be co-ed in the next academic year and was considered to be the best elevator school in the area—by its headmaster, Zeoticus Gremory. Daichi took the scholarship without batting an eye. He didn't entertain any hopes of interacting with the beauties that were known to attend, he cared more about the quality of education.

Things gradually became worse for Daichi during his first year in Kuoh Academy. Bullying. Daichi never learned of the reason, he only knew that he was reviled for simply being. At first it was easy to ignore, the occasional shove and heckling about his appearance or smell. Then someone found out about his parents and used that against him. When he finally snapped, in a place with just him and his bullies, it was so easy to bring him down. The incident only gave his tormentors more reasons to torment him. And having long forgotten how to ask for help, Daichi merely endured. Withdrawing into himself even more.

There came a point where Daichi could no longer endure. At 3:30 AM, one week after the start of his second year at Kuoh Academy, Daichi Takahashi hung himself in his bedroom. He died from asphyxiation and trauma to the neck in a couple of minutes.

Even though Daichi died, his story did not end there.

As for the body?

With Daichi's death the world slowed to a crawl within his bedroom. Then suddenly, against all odds, life returned to his body. It panicked for air. Both hands automatically reached for the noose, trying to relieve pressure from the much-abused windpipe. Legs and body writhed erratically, a natural response to being strung on a rope.

The struggle only lasted for a scant few seconds, unnatural strength never present within Daichi before ripped the rope into strands, his body kissing the floor moments later.

"Fucking hell!" Came a grunt once proper breathing was worked out. It was spoken in Daichi's voice but in a tone unlike his. "What in the world happened… Wait, why am I the one talking? And why do we sound like a male… Oh shit."

"…We're in your room? In your body?"

"…Fuck."

[-]

Death was supposed to be routine for Charles Wilken, the self-proclaimed handsomest third of the anomaly that is the Milletian. So, when he awoke from being strangled, he automatically panicked with a significant amount of force. Strength refined during their time as the Milletian made swift work of the rope, dropping their collective body down onto the ground.

"Charles! Are you alright?"

"What just happened, our revivals aren't supposed to start with getting strangled first thing!"

"I don't know but—Fucking hell!" Charles grunted aloud, not at first realizing the significance of said action.

"What in the world happened…" A pause. "Wait, why am I the one talking? And why do we sound like a male…"

Charles opened his—relatively speaking—eyes. Ignoring the rope that dangled from the ceiling, he scanned the distinctly alien room he was in. It wasn't a place he recognized as belonging to Erinn, they weren't far enough technologically to have dry wall and computers as part of everyday living. The room was incredibly bare, only having a bed, a desk, and a desktop computer that had a rather futuristic feel to it. Not too bad for a room, every clean. What mattered wasn't the room though, it was what Charles saw when he looked down. A body that was a lot rounder and a lot less female than he remembered.

"Oh shit. Lysanna, did you change our body into that of a male? And why make it fat of all things?"

"I didn't do shit! You very well know that if I wanted a cock to play with I'd rebirth us into a hermaphrodite! Anyway. I know about as much as you regarding the situation, something weird happened between our fight with Macha and now… We'll figure this out, like we always do… What do you think Daichi? …Daichi!"

"…Huh? Oh! Sorry. It's just that… The current scene looks rather familiar. It's on the tip of my tongue… No way. NO WAY."

"What? What is it?"

"What's the day and time? Check on the computer!"

Charles did so without question, an idea already forming in the back of his mind about the significance of Daichi's panic. The short walk to the computer was slightly complicated by a weight distribution that Charles was unused to, but thankfully no complications arose in those five steps other than a slight wobble. He powered on the computer. It took a couple of moments for the OS to boot up. The screen flickered from black to a bright orange password entry screen, the top right corner showed the date and time.

Monday, April 14, 2014. 3:35 AM.

"…But how? We should've gone back to the Soul Stream... Was it Caliburn that did this? Or did Erinn reject us? Ugh, this is confusing!"

"Talk to us Daichi, we need you to tell us what's going on."

"This is my room, we're in my body, and today is the day I died for the first time before the whole Milletian thing happened."

"…We're in your room? In your body?" Charles automatically voiced out, his control over Daichi's body was not exactly perfect at the moment. "Well… As much as this doesn't make sense it'd probably do us no good to dwell over the how and why."

"I'll second that motion, so what do we next? Any ideas Lysanna, Charles?"

"I think I'll defer to Charles for this one, boys. Didn't you make a racket some time ago about how Daichi's world was fiction in yours? Just like Erinn?"

"…I refuse to believe that the light of my life is actually a Devil."

"Shush you, now that we're back in your world—for whatever reason—I get to actually prove it to you. But yeah, this place was a story in my world. A harem comedy that was centered around a perverted idiot that had a draconic artifact that allowed him to double his power every ten seconds. You'll probably remember him Daichi, Issei Hyoudou. Just like with Macha, however, there's no guarantee that events will play out one-to-one in real life compared to my memories."

"…Still not a Devil. And don't remind me about that idiot. Ugh."

"Let's ignore Daichi for now, what do we need to be aware of in the immediate future?"

"It's been a long time since I've read the series, so it's hard to say. I'm confident in my knowledge of events up to around volume twelve, but beyond that it gets patchy. Thankfully, Daichi was classmates with his so-called light of his life, and that puts us somewhere just before the start of events in the story.

And that means there should be a contingent of Fallen Angels holed up in an abandoned church somewhere around Kuoh. We'll be wanting to get some eyes on them just in case things develop against expectations. Since Daichi is still a student enrolled in Kuoh Academy, we'll probably have to deal with Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri eventually. Most likely Sona first because of Daichi's particular leanings."

"Why them?"

"The main reason is proximity. They're in control of Kuoh, and we live in it. And Daichi is still a part of Kuoh Academy's student body. There's also the fact that both Rias and Sona are pretty important in the Underworld. Devilkind is ruled by the four Maou titled Satan, Leviathan, Asmodeus, and Beelzebub. Rias is the younger sister of the current Satan. Sona, the current Leviathan. Thanks to certain laws in place, the younger sisters can't take advantage of their elder siblings' status, but knowledge of that relation extends a sort of protection to them… A protection that we could potentially make use of if we ingratiate ourselves to either Rias or Sona."

"Do we need to? I can still feel that all of the power we've accumulated back on Erinn is still available to us, I think we can stand on our own."

"You mean we might be able to stand on our own, Lysanna. Even with Charles' memories I'm reluctant to believe that my seniors are something more than human… But if they are, and they are as important as Charles says they are, then I say it's a good idea to associate with them so that we have a better idea of what we're getting in to."

"Oh fine. As long as there's some good fights to be had."

"So we're in accord? If there's nothing—"

Before Charles could finish that thought, a strange blue screen appeared in their line of sight.

(´o ω o`)
Hey!
What about me?
Don't I get to say something too?

"The hell is this?"

"What the… You're the one in the know, do you know what the heck this is Charles?"

Charles knew very well what the blue screen symbolized. It was a manifestation of the Gamer ability, from a comic of the same name, yet another thing that Charles had squirreled away in the depths of his memories as a youth. It was supposedly an ability granted by Gaia that bent local reality in order to fit the theme of living life as a video game. The question was, why them and why here?

"This can't be real… You gotta be shitting me."

Rude.
If you're real, then why can't I be real?
You can't deny me!
I'll be with all of you forever!
Hehe.

"…Fuck."


A/N: Actual exposition and some hints at the dynamic between the Milletian trio. If you read this and look back on the old chapters (which again, are going to remain for the sake of comparing old and new content), you'll probably come to the realization that Charles was the first person narrator in them. If you haven't realized that, now you know. I also want to apologize to those who were hoping for more of the shattered psyche thing that was going on in the old chapters, there might be more of that as the trio gets used to a body that's not entirely theirs (there is a distinction), but I'm not sure. We'll have to see once I get caught up with the content in the old chapters.

Also in this chapter is the intrusion of Gaia in the affairs of her chosen, we'll be seeing more of her in the future as she's here to stay. I'm also quite happy with how many of you seem to appreciate my treating Gaia as an actual person and making her relevant to the story. The incredibly beautiful and nice smelling Mother of All Life also gives her thanks.

There were a couple of reviews asking about harems. This is a harem story yes, but I won't be giving any clues as to who is included beyond Sona and Reya. Because I really like them and they'll probably be getting almost as much screen time as the Milletian trio.

Well, that's all I have to say I think. Please review and what not. Reader interaction really gets me going.