Warning, this chapter has a lot of exposition.

The Occult Research Club room was a rather fancy office place with couches, glass table, and even wallpaper that made it felt archaic.

But the most notable thing was the occupants of the room besides myself. First would be the two madonna of the school, Rias Gremory and Akeno Himejima. They sat on the other couch across from me while drinking tea.

Beside Himejima was a rather sick looking Koneko Toujou, the school's white haired mascot. I wonder what happened to her since I heard she wasn't attending class today.

Behind the girls was the handsome bastard of the school, Yuuto Kiba. He stood still with his fake smile while waiting for Gremory to finish sipping her tea.

Well, I was drinking the tea too and it helped me to calm my nerves after the disaster that was the Heartless.

"Did you enjoy the tea, Hyoudou?" Rias asked me. Well, I can't deny how well the tea was made, so I gave her a nod. "Good. I suppose you had plenty of questions for me?"

Plenty? "Oh I had more than just plenty, missy. Might take a while to list them all in a paper."

Gremory raised an eyebrow. Is it the way I speak? Well, I can't blame her since I rarely do that. Even Matsuda and Motohama told me it was a very jarring shift when I talk to them like that.

"Well, we have plenty of time." Himejima giggled then refilled the cups with tea.

Now, what to ask first… Oh, I got one.

"Let's get this one out of the way first." I raised Braveheart Replica from my side to show it to her. "What the hell is this?"

"That is a Keyblade Replica, specifically a replica of Braveheart."

I was about to retort with a smartass remark, but I held it off. I guess she misunderstood what I meant by that question. Doesn't help how vague it was. "I meant to say what is a Keyblade?"

The redhead's eyes widened. How was she surprised by that question? "You don't know? Even though you used it so well and even told me how it's full potential can only be used by a wielder?"

"Well… I had no idea how I knew it." Now that I think about it, how did I hear Driag's voice? Wasn't it all a dream? But considering what happened, I guess I shouldn't be too alarmed by having a voice in my head. "It comes out so naturally."

"I supposed we should start from the beginning."

"Not the beginning right?"

The room went silent while Gremory sipped her tea again. Even though I can't see it, I could tell I'm pissing her off. Himejima's attempt to not laugh was not helping the situation at all.

"No." She looked like she was taking a lot of effort not to put down the cup strongly. "I'll get to the main point."

She stood up before snapping her finger, forming a… magic circle (I guess) and pulled out a whiteboard. Taking off the cap of a marker pen, she wrote 'Keyblade'. "A Keyblade, as you can tell, is literally a blade that is shaped like a key. In your case, a dimple key."

Next, she wrote 'Legendary Weapon!' (Yes, she added the exclamation mark) and 'Darkness' but cross it out. "And it was a series of ancient weapons that was used to fight against forces of Darkness."

"Like the Heartless." I answered.

"Yes. But that's not all. My Master told me that there were other kinds of enemies who wished for the destruction of Keyblade wielders."

She proceeded to write out different labels including the Heartless.

"Nobodies. Unversed. Nightmare. These were some of the few enemies Keyblade wielders must face, Heartless being the primary threat. I'll get to all the enemies on a later date."

I nodded in agreement, since I'm trying to learn what a Keyblade is.

"Now, you should also know the functionality of a Keyblade. I can only tell you what I know about it, so bear with me if some explanations are vague."

She first listed down all the functions one by one. Wow, there were so many functions that it felt packed.

"The first and easiest function would be to seal or open every kind of lock, regardless of the form with the exception of a computer password. Trust me, someone tried."

That's good to know. I don't want a wielder to suddenly decide to open up my 'Too dangerous to open' folder. It's heavily password locked.

"Secondly, would be Morphing, more specifically, it has to do with your keychain on the Keyblade." She drew a keychain with the end being that of a crown. "By using a magically enhanced keychain, it is possible to modify a Keyblade into a form that is related to the new keychain and augment its power."

That's a rather interesting function this weapon has. I wonder what would happen if I get my eroge keychains enhanced and changed with Braveheart Replica's keychain? I might get a Keyblade version of the legendary weapons in those games!

"For the last function, I mentioned that a Keyblade is meant for fighting the forces of Darkness right?" I nodded and she continued. "Good. Then let me give you a bit of context first before I dive into it."

Gremory took a sip of tea prepared by Himejima before drawing a Shadow and a Heart. "Heartlesses are creatures of true Darkness. They prey on Hearts to increase their numbers to reach their ultimate goal."

The next word she wrote on the board was not something I expected, to the point I nearly dropped my cup of tea.

"They wish to destroy worlds by engulfing it in Darkness."

Holy shit… that's what I am dealing with? A bunch of monsters hell bent on world destruction? And worlds? Does it mean our world was not the only one?

"Now let's not delve into the implications that you were thinking and focus on the last function. People who were… I suppose killed by a Heartless would become a Heartless, as their Heart would be captured by Darkness. A Keyblade, however, can reverse this effect by 'releasing' Hearts that were stuck in Darkness."

That's… a lot to digest. Those Shadows that I killed were once people, and I guess I sorta saved them? But where do they go once I release the Hearts?

"Thus, with all these functions, it was the duty of a Keyblade Wielder to ensure that Heartlesses were eliminated and keep as many worlds safe as possible."

Once she finished, she finally met my eyes with a schooled smile, almost like a teacher if said teacher was a sexy babe. Damn, I need to focus before I ogle her. This situation was serious!

"Now, any questions Hyoudou?"

Hm… what can I ask… If only there were an option box for me to choose like those VNs I played before.

Maybe I should ask the most obvious thing.

"So how did you get your hands on Braveheart Replica?"

This time, Himejima was the one who stepped up to explain it to me. "We based it on the original and forged it through the means of alchemy, light magic, and a series of complicated processes that even the creator of the replica shuddered in the thought of attempting the process again."

Yikes, sounds like a long and arduous process for them.

"Which is why Braveheart Replica was one of the three available replicas in our world."

So there were others around the world, probably kept by the guy who made these replicas in the first place. "That's good to know."

"Any other questions?"

I nodded this time, as another question came to me. "From all the information you guys are giving me, it sounds like our world is not the only world out there right?"

"That would be correct." This time, it's the handsome bastard who spoke up with his stupid fake smile. "But we must first let you understand what 'world' meant in the context of a Keyblade Wielder."

He pulled a picture of a starry night sky out and pinned it on the white board before turning back to me. "I'm sure you have heard of an old legend that every star in the sky is a world, yes?"

"Yep, mom and pops told me before when I was a kid. A common folk story."

"Then I suppose it shouldn't be surprising for you that the legend is true by the way I'm going with this conversation."

"Question." He gave me a go ahead before I continued. "What about the afterlife like Heaven and Hell? Are they their own world?"

Everyone seemed to flinch when I mentioned Heaven, but once I finished my question Kiba looked like someone who was haunted by something. What did I say to make him look so scared?

"That, unfortunately… is a whole can of worms by how complicated it gets."

"I'll shelve it for now." He nodded with a thankful look. Wow, it must be a really complicated subject if he had PTSD from it.

Rias clapped her hand with a polite smile to get everyone's attention, most likely mine judging by her looking at me. "We'll answer one last question before we have to call it a day. It's getting late for everyone and we still have our club activity to do."

One last question… I have to make this count. But what can I ask-

I immediately slapped my forehead as realization came. Damn, why didn't I ask this?

"Okay, this is gonna sound weird-"

"We've seen weirder." Koneko interrupted me with her monotonous sound, which earned a small tap on her head from Himejima.

"-but I seem to have a dragon named Draig living in my head and he gave me some power that I was born with. Any idea what's up with that?"

Gremory blinked a few times like she just heard the wrong thing. A moment of silence later, she cleared her throat. "Do you mean Y Draig Goch?" I nodded. "Okay… okay…"

"First, I have to introduce you to another form of power that you have come to possess. That power is called Sacred Gear."

Sacred Gear? Is that what my gauntlet, or at least the classification, was?

"It is an unusual power that resides in certain humans, where some of the greatest men in history came in possession of it." Himejima continued Gremory's explanation.

"Someone like Nobunaga Oda?" I couldn't help but ask, which I received a nod from Gremory.

"Sometimes, they are even capable of defeating gods if they have enough latent potential for their users to gain access to."

Capable of defeating gods… yikes, who in the world thought it would be a great idea for humans to use it? I'm surprised the world hasn't become an apocalyptic landscape.

"So what you are saying is… the dragon in my head is a Sacred Gear and I can gain access to it? How do I even do that?" That's the real question, now I thought about it. I was wondering why I didn't have the gauntlet the whole fight with the Heartlesses, and the answer seemed to be closer than I thought.

"First, raise your left hand."

Uh… okay? I guess I'll just follow the instructions for now. Seems kind of silly.

"Now imagine the strongest thing in your mind and put it into your hand."

Okay… focus…

Focus…

The strongest thing that I can think of… a red dragon… a Keyblade… the Station of Awakening…

Power… Light… Darkness…

"Power…"

R̴̨̈́e̴͜͝m̸̙̐e̷͔̾m̸̱̂b̸̩̋e̵̤̊r̴̮̚,̴͈̃ ̸̧̂y̷̧͌o̵̘̓u̶̪͗r̶̢̉ ̴̰̿f̸͙͠r̸̼̓í̴̬e̷̎͜n̸̠͝d̷̗͗s̸̱̎ ̴̢͝ȁ̷̫r̶̼͘ē̷̠ ̵̪̈y̸̯̿o̶̪͗û̵̹ ̶̢̍p̴̢͆ö̶̯́w̵̨̃e̶̍͜r̵̠̀.̵̗͑

My friends… Matsuda… Motohama and…

A flash of crimson came to my mind. It was foggy, but I remember the distinct crimson hair and her warm smile.

Her name… it was… "Aka-chan…"

I brought my arm to my face then swung it outward, yelling out the most natural thing I can feel as power courses through my body. Yes! The strongest form of power… I can feel it!

It was…

"My friends! Give me strength!"

Green light flashed from my left forearm as a fingerless gauntlet manifested on my arm. Once the light died down, I looked at it. It looked like the same gauntlet in my dream, but it felt… incomplete.

Gremory's clapping broke me out of my musing as she congratulated me with a smile. "Good job. That is your Sacred Gear 'Twice Critical'."

"But it looked different from the one I saw in my dream."

She nodded and began to explain to me. "That was because 'Twice Critical' can be considered the primitive form of every dragon related Sacred Gear. Each comes in their own form and colors, so every 'Twice Critical' can have a wide array of appearances."

"So that means it will eventually evolve into the form I saw in the dream?"

She nodded, confirming my suspicion. Since it was a primitive form, then I should be able to gain access to it once I'm strong enough.

"Thank you… for everything." I sincerely said to everyone in the room. "Without your expositions I would be like that drowning horse from that one movie."

"You're welcome, but let's not bring up that movie." I agreed that was poor timing for me. "However, I'm sure we will be meeting more often in the near future when we tackle more subjects related to Keyblades and the Supernatural world."

"Then I look forward to seeing you!" I bowed to her and, wow, her giggle sounded so cute.

We said our goodbyes and I proceeded to leave the club room myself. Wow, time really flew by since the sky became dark.

I took out my phone and winced at the amount of missed calls and messages from my parents. I should've told them I would be late to come home. I hope I won't get grounded for that…

Who am I kidding, I'm in so much trouble.

Thanks for reading the chapter! This is my first Kingdom Heart story so any help like constructive criticism would be appreciated. Hopefully we can walk this journey together to the end.

And also thank my beta for some ideas and checking my work.

Also, to answer one of the guest, none of the things you requested since they are mostly irrelevant to the story itself. In regards on how I am going to adapt the mechanics of the game into the story, I have a few ideas already. And I hope you noticed but this is a Issei-centric story, not Sora's story. He will have relevance but not in the way you might be thinking.

Note: This is also available in AO3.