DISCLAIMER: DxD does not belong to me~.
And this is the worst day in the life of Suzuhara Ichirou...
That's me, by the way.
What can I say but this is the worst day of my life? For starters, the company I worked for the past 6 years just fired me for no reason. I mean, there is a reason, 'to make space for newer faces and try new opportunities with a younger outlook' they said as they gave like half an hour to pack my things and leave, but I know for sure that is just the stupid boss just removing me from the common denominator so that his snotty-nosed nephew could take my place. Knowing that idiot will crash and burn the company in less than a year makes me feel uncertain if I should be glad or not for that, but I have to get what I can from this situation...
Not being enough, I heard from a friend that the girl I'm interested in is not into guys, with even pictured proof, my phone broke when I bumped into someone down the streets, and then to put the misery cherry on top of that disgusting cake of disasters, I heard that my younger brother is getting married to his sweetheart, and somehow they expect me to go from Tokyo all the way to Kagoshima when I've barely any money to pay rent, my parents threatening to disown me if I don't show up to the 'salvation of the Suzuhara family'.
Unbelievable...
I knew graduating and moving to Tokyo would change everything in my life, but not for the worse, ending as a recently-unemployed wage slave scorned by his family and whos girlfriend is a cheating bitch. The landlord from where I live is also stacking the unpaid rent and if I don't make it pass this mouth, to the streets with the rats I go...
How and when did my life go so wrong? It's like if some bigger force is forcing me to be as miserable and pitiful as possible, and I must say, they're doing a pretty good job at it. Walking like a corpse, getting weird looks by everyone, I put my body on autopilot to think about my current condition while I aim to reach the cab station. What should I do now, what can I do now? No answers, only the devouring void of my existence getting duller and duller, and an unseen but expected future with nothing but dread... The shock still lingers on me, and I wonder if that's some kind of divine punishment...
Truly, Unbelievable...
Sigh, y'know what? Thinking about it while I'm still processing all the misfortune hurled at me won't do me any good. All I can do now is go back to my apartment, play my gachas, take a good night of sleep and think of what to do from now on. I'm an adult and a former employee, I guess I can sort things out and do something with my life, and if nothing comes... Well, I know a cheap place where I can find a rope and a stool...
I sign for the nearest taxi cab once I reach the station, and hopping on it, I sit on the back as the driver signs a 'hello' with his hands, I mimicking his movement out of politeness. He tells me where I want to go, I tell him where to, and then we were off. Once the taxi started moving, a soothing silence befell us, and since neither of us was in the mood for talking, I could only look out off the window, the nocturnal scenario of Tokyo... So bright and dreamy... To think such a beautiful city is crawling to the brim with rotten people... And unfortunately, I'm one of them...
"Hey, young man... You look down. Did something happen?" And snapping me from my little reverie, the taxi driver asks without looking back, of course he wouldn't, he can't. My eyes shift for his stare on the front mirror, and I open my mouth to start talking... Only to close it again like a fish, pursing my lips. No, I shouldn't drag a stranger into my problems...
"Let's just say that... I'm not having a good day." I sigh, 'understatement' not being able to even convey how much it truly is. From the driver, a heartedful chuckle with no malice. More and more cars come and go, we pass through a street or two, and after a few seconds, he resumed.
"Hahah.I guess everyone has one of 'those days', eh? I've been in the shitter for the longest, so I should know how it feels." He says, and despite his words, he seems calm, collected and composed, unlike me on the brink of a breakdown. In response, I open a nervous smile, a chuckle out. "You see, my wife died a few years ago, and her family took my kids when I couldn't take care of them. I lost my job, my house, and even the little I've inherited from my parents as well. It seemed that everything was going wrong, and I had nowhere to go. My life was... Indeed, a mess."
"Oh, so sorry to hear that." I say, perplexed. His tone is unchangeable, and the kind smile doesn't leave his face. I mean, I feel absolutely devastated, but hearing this old driver talk about such events with a soothing voice and calm and kind disposition, it makes me a bit... Relieved and in peace. Maybe I am just panicking, and maybe one day things can work out.
"Ah, don't be, sonny. Sure, I felt despair and sorrow at the start, and once those feelings start to pill up, y'know, your mind starts to wander and drag you to some dark places." A heavy laugh which I mimicked as well. Indeed, at the bottom, you can only think of a way out no matter the cost, and I suspect that he must've feel the same, if not ten times worse. "But eventually, everything worked out: I found myself a nice group of people that took me in and made me feel part of something bigger. I wasn't lost anymore, and after a few years, I returned to the way I was, with the bonus of a new mentality, even!"
"That's... Good to hear." I brighten up, and before I notice it, my lips curved in an upward arc, I was smiling again, genuinely this time. That's... A nice story indeed. I guess there is more to life than just the now, and hope can bloom even in the darkest places. Not comparing what he went through to me, of course, but if he can smile and be so nice like that, maybe I can do the same, and turn my life around. That's... Neat. "Thank you, sir... I feel a lot better now."
"You're welcome, young man." He says, turning to me with that same soothing smile and calm expression, before turning back to the road. "Glad to see that this old man's story cheered you up. After all, sending us straight to hell without a small glimpse of hope would leave a bad taste in my mouth..."
"I guess, but thanks anyway..."
...
Wait, what?
"Hmmm... Did you... Did you say something about hell?" I ask him, a bit confused. Maybe I'm just too tired, I can't hear things properly, but did he just say something about sending me to hell? Come to think of it, I turn outside and this is not the directions I suppose to go! We're riding away from Tokyo, into the mountains! "S-Sir... This... This is the wrong direction..."
"Young man... Do you believe in Satan?" ignoring completely my pleas, the old man's tone becomes somber and disturbing out of the sudden. Wait, what? He turns to me again, smiling as always, but this time, nothing but a void behind it. "I do, y'know. After I was abandoned by everyone and everything, He was the only one who took me in, gave me a purpose in life, made me one of his followers. You must not believe it, but he's here, and after everything he did for me and all of his followers of the group I follow, I, as his loyal high-priest, should do the bare minimum to please him. And what better way to please my lord... Than to give him two souls for the price of one in a single night?"
"H-Hey, what the hell are you saying, old man?" I reach a hand for him to shake him a little. I mean, that's a joke, right? It has to be a prank! Maybe he's just making fun of me. "C-C'mon, that's not funny... Old man, what do you m-...?"
*STAB!*
"...!" But instead of an answer, I feel a sharp, dulling pain on my hand, and once I blink once, I notice that a sharp knife had just pierced my palm, so deeply each half of my hand began to dangle from the sides! One, two seconds, and I recoiled in pain, holding my wounded palm and screaming for dear life as the old man picked from his pocket a contract and smeared the blood on the knife all over it!
"There now. Using your blood, now your soul belongs to Lord Satan via this contract of darkness. My turn as well..." And the old man use the knife to now cut his own cheek and make it bleed on it, smearing his own crimson essence onto the parchment.A laugh from him, and I feel the cab going faster and faster into the forest! "Rejoice, young man. Today, we join the devil in the Underworld as their new lackeys! Let us leave this mortal realm and be reborn as devils under the mighty Lord of Darkness! Praise thy be!"
"You crazy motherf-...!"
And I couldn't even finish my final curse against that crazy bastard. He goes full drive in the road and runs pass the rail guard and into a cliff! My body loses all of its gravity, and the car we're in goes from parallel to the floor to plunging headfirst into the rocky end of that precipice! It was dark, but I can still hear the engines of the car in full speed, the roars of the wheels that have no solid ground to run, and the laugh of that old man echoing in my head, nothing grandiose, nothing evil, just a heartedful laugh of an old man... Who just commited a homicide-suicide. And to think... This day couldn't get any worse...
That moment felt like an eternity, but eventually the car reached the end of the precipice. The sharp rocks and solid ground hit us full force, and for the little time I could discern in my last moments, I feel my security belt strangling me while my body breaks all over, the impact of the car resonating through all of the machinery as the deafening sound of the clash piercing my ears, the sharp rocks breaking through the glass to pierce the old man first, killing him instantly, to then aim at me as I haplessly watched them coming closer and closer, first a touch, then clashing into my flesh, penetrating my skin, breaking my bones and piercing my organs and then unbearable pain that ran across my body until...
...
"..."
...
"...-iz... -Riz...!"
...?
"Gar-... Riz...!"
What...? What?
"Rith...! Garith...! Garith!"
"Huh?" And darkness no more, I suddenly am embraced by light, and as I open my eyes... I face an uncommon ceiling, surrounded by strangers of all places looking at me. I blink once and twice, and for some reason... My head hurts, and something runs from my head to my face. I lick it, is this... Blood?
"GARITH! DEAR LILITH, ARE YOU OKAY?!" And as if the pain on my head wasn't enough, some tall, imposing redhead with bright blue-green eyes comes to my head screaming like a madman. Who? I turn around to see if there was anyone more around here, but instead he clashes right next to me to give me a hug and shake me. "Little brother, does it hurt anywhere! Can you still move your legs?! I knew that trying to fly that high could end like that! I'm so sorry, Garith...!"
"Lord Sirzechs, please control yourself. You might be scaring dear Garith." And appearing next to the redhead, a tall, busty woman with red eyes and silver strings wrapped in braids and wearing a maid outfit slaps the former silly while shooing him away with a wave. He was a bit hesitant, but the redhead, I think his name is Sirzechs, is he a foreigner?, gave space for the maid to come closer and examine my current state. Whoa, are those torpedos real? I've never seen ones that big unless from an AV. Wait, staring is rude, so I turn back to her. Despite her tone and stoic expression, she too looks concerned for me despite for the fact I've never seen her before. "Lord Garith, can you stand? Do you recognize me? Do you remember my name?"
"..." As told, I stand up with her help, her soft pale hand pulling to so that I could support myself on my two legs. As for if I know her... No, I don't think I've ever seen someone this beautiful, and even if I did, I would never forget her face nor her name, although I have a strange feeling of Deja vu! I never even been out of Japan either, and she's clearly a foreigner. Besides, why do they keep calling me... "You're... Miss Grayfia, right?"
Wait, how do I know that?
But yes... Her name is Grayfia. Grayfia Lucifuge, the dear wife of my big brother Sirzechs Lucifer despite the fact I only have my little brother who's getting married next month. She sighs, relieved, despite trying her hardest to hide that fact with a hand covering her pretty face.
And the guy next to her is Sirzechs Lucifer, my dear older brother and current leader of the Underworld under the name Lucifer and former heir of the Gremory clan of devils.
And I am... Garith Gremory, the next heir of Gremory and twin brother of Rias Gremory, son of Venelana and Zeoticus Gremory.
Wait, how do I know this?
Wasn't I Suzuhara Ichirou, a recently unemployed wave slave who got killed in a suicide-homicide? How am I a heir of a devil clan? Who is, Who I am? What... When... How...?! Huh?!
I... I... I...!
*FOOOOSH!*
"Lord Garith...!"
"Little brother...!"
And I feel my brain gets fried as memories that are not mine, or are they?, flood into my mind. From my small baby ages, to toddler age, up to my new 6th birthday, all the way until I tried to fly as high as fast as I could, only to lose control and hit my head on the pavement. As I fall unconscious again with a bleeding nose and my brother and sister-in-law, I can only ask myself one thing...
Who am I?
"Garith will be fine. The hit on the head opened quite a wound, but nothing too big or severe, although he does presents symptoms of a concussion. Worry not, Zechs, in a week or so he'll be good as new, and even if it leaves a scar, it won't be visible at all."
"Are you sure, Ajuka?! Nothing severe will happen to my little bro, right?! He won't, like, have his skull split open if he thinks too much, or maybe sprout a god-killing arm from his forehead when I'm not looking, right?! Please, spare me from the horror!"
"Please ignore your brother, son. For now, lie down and rest, and think of what you might learn from this whole experience. I'll be praying for a quick recovery for you, dear Garith."
And this busty, soft-looking a kind brunette woman comes closer to kiss my bandaged forehead. I've never seen her before, but she treats me like I'm her son or something, which I am, since I'm Garith Gremory and she's my mother, Venelana Gremory. I flinch as another electric shock seems to hit my head, and groan to the pain. For her words, I just nod, unsure of what to say. Somehow, I feel like I love this woman... Deeply.
Laying on a soft bed, bandages all over my head and surrounded by toys and dear ones, like my brother, his best friend and mother, I have a strange sense of Deja Vú in here despite never been in such a place nor have known these people. The redhead who I somehow know is my big brother, the green-haired slicked man who's just as tall as the former and a cool yet dark aura around him who I somehow know it's my big brother's best friend Ajuka Beelzebub, and the gentle-looking damsel that I know it's my mother Venelana Gremory, they talk among themselves a little bit and once Big Brother calms down, they bid me a last goodbye before leaving, wishing me a good rest and recovery...
...
Okay, what the hell is going on?
I look down in my body, and I am... Small. Stubby, small, short; I feel like my legs are too close to my body, and not a single string of hair in places that are not on the top of my red hair. My fingers are also too thin and short, and my cheeks are soft and squishy. Also, what the hell, I'm a redhead now? Turning to the nearest source of reflection, I also notice that my eyes are wide and in an uncommon tone of green-blue. This is not the body of a third-something japanese wage slave salaryman, but a seven-years old foreigner boy. How... When... What?! I flinch sensing another hint of pain on my head, the fresh wound there still hurting. Owww~... I was suppose to be better than this, but somehow, I feel like crying~. Must be this new body of mine unfamiliar with pain...
The only thing I can think of now is this: somehow, anyhow, I'm no longer Suzuhara Ichirou, but a little boy named Garith Gremory, who's apparently a foreign rich boy living in a farway land outside Japan... That, or I'm in a coma after almost dying in that freaky suicide-homicide attempt. After pinching my cheek and feeling it stretch, yep... This is not a dream.
Unbelievable.
...
Y'know what? I should do what I was told to do, what I was planning to do back in my previous life, and lie down and rest a bit. Today was... Something, yes. But if I wrap my little head around it too much, with a wounded head of all things, I feel I will worry about and solve nothing no matter how much I try. For now, the best course of action is to just lie down, sleep and piece all the events together with a clear and rested head. Yeah, I can think of something tomorrow, but for now... Goodnight.
I turn my head to a family photo resting right on my desk, and I see not just Venelana, Zeoticus, my parents, and Sirzechs, my brother, but also myself and a girl who looks almost like me but wearing a dress and smiling dreamly. A small dull pain in my head, and I soon 'remember' somehow that she's my dear younger twin sister, Rias Gremory. Huh, so now I'm both an older and younger brother, eh? Neat, I guess. We seen like a happy family... I hope I can 'meet' them again tomorrow... I do wonder though... Is this a second chance in life? Perhaps. All of them sound so... Familiar though...
...
...
Wait a minute...
Rias...?
Sirzechs...?
Grayfia...?!
Ajuka...?!
GREMORY?!
"Brother! Father has told me what happened! Are you ok-...?!"
"YOU...!" And the moment the door opened to reveal a crying, worried little redhead girl heading towards me, I jumped from the bed into her direction and held her by the shoulders, her sadness and worry turning into horror and surprise as I drawe myself closer to her to look at her deep green-blue eyes and red hair! No... This cannot be! It's fucking impossible! "... You... Rias...?! RIAS GREMORY?!"
"Y-Y-Yes...?" She answers with a shaky voice, shocking me even more. "B-Brother...? Are you...?"
"A-And we're... What are we...?!"
"G-Gremories...?"
"No... Our species... We are...?!"
"D-Devils...?"
"Our cousins name's is...?!"
"S-Sairaorg...?"
"Your best friend's name is...?!"
"S-S-Sona...?"
"The strongest being in the Universe is...?!"
"The infinite dragon...?"
"The animal you fear the most is...?!"
"T-The camel after it attacked me...?"
...
...
...
Oh fuck, I reincarnated in Highschool D×D.
...
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH...!"
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH...!"
Okay, okay! Calm down! Calm down, 'Garith'! Somehow, anyhow, you Unbelievably reincarnated into the body of the twin brother of the female lead of a popular Light novel series after dying! This is too much bullshit as it is, but c'mon, calm down or else you'll either have an aneurysm or scare your... 'Little sister' for life.
Calm down, calm down and try to come up with an excuse. Hold your breath, turn to your crying little sister Rias and just think you're having an episode after a concussion, this might work... Just slowly and steadily plan your next move and...
*TING!*
What...?
[SKILL -GAMER'S MIND- HAS LEVELED UP.], said a small translucid board that appeared out of nowhere in front of me. I blink once, twice, and after a quick scan, I notice that the lower corner of my vision there is a small board with the words [MENU] written in it... Just by thinking of what it is, it expanded to cover most of my sight in a translucid board... Wait, is this...
[NAME: Garith Gremory]
[LVL.: 6]
[RACE: Devil(High-class)]
[ALIGNMENT: Neutral Evil]
[TITLES: The Gamer(beginner); Heir of Gremory; Lucifer's little brother]
STATUS: Light concussion(debuff); migraine(debuff), light bloodloss(debuff)
(SKILLS)
- POWER OF DESTRUCTION(ACTIVE): The power of destruction inherited from the Bael. The demonic power to annihilate anything it touches. (lvl. 2)
- RECOLLECTION OF MENTEPSYCHOSIS(ACTIVE): The ability to 'remember' skills and knowledge from the past life at the cost of seizures and bleeding from the nose. (lvl. 5)
- VOID THE DEVOURER(ACTIVE): A little gift from the heart~❤. Don't wanna spoil the surprise.
- CHARISMA(PASSIVE): Skill inherited from the Good natured Gremory. The ability to charm and enchant peers more easily.(lvl. 10)
- GAMER'S MIND(PASSIVE): A passive skill, the ability to stay calm even dire situations, a will of iron to think rationally and strategize. Also, makes you behave and sound like a sociopath... Indeed a gamer. (lvl. 2)
- DISCERN FOR RICHES(PASSIVE): A quest skill. The ability to discern the [TRUE VALUE] of any object or item and receive the information of anything in reach or sight, also know as [APPRAISAL]. (lvl. 3).
- MIGRAINE(PASSIVE): Brain damage. The ability to resist mental or psychic attacks(buff) at the cost of constant headaches(debuff), unabling the user to think too deeply or too much. (lvl: MAX)
(STATS)
-STR: 5
-DEF: 5
-DEX: 5
-END: 5
-INT: 5
-WIS: 6
-CHA: 1,000,000
-LUK: 10
What the hell... Are those... game stats?! I blink once imagining the window that looks more like a status chart going away and opening my eyes again, I see that it was gone, but still holding my dear 'sister', I look at the top of her head and I read in those same glowing translucid letters...
[RIAS GREMORY]
[LVL. 6]
...
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH...!"
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH...!"
Was it because I somehow, anyhow, reincarnated as a young boy? Was it because I reincarnated in the world of an infamous light novel series? Was it because somehow I have abilities similar of a RPG? I seriously don't know for what, but I screamed as much as my little lungs and mouth could, and with one final nosebleed, my world now turns dark, my body turns numb, and I feel myself hit the ground, hearing only the screams and cries of my 'little sister' in the blackness of the void.
How and why has this happened to me? I don't know, and I seriously have no idea how to deal with this all. For all of that going on, I can only say one thing...
... Unbelievable.
And that's a wrap, we can all go home for now.
Hello dxd fandom. How are you doing? So, a little request/challenge from a friend created this fic actually. I'm always on the human side of things, so why I don't write a full blooded devil for once. Well, i did it... While also giving him a Hamefura treatment! Exactly, meet Garith Gremory, the Gamer Gremory and Rias' older twin brother. I'll been trying to return to the gamer-like fics anyway, might as well kill three birds with a stone with it. This will be a short fic, trying to push some juices up before i return to Re-birth, so expect not much, but if people like it enough, I might... Get excited about it as well.
Well, enough about that for now, not time to rant, right? Anyway, thanks for your interest in this fic, stay tuned for Garith and his adventures, stay safe and I hope you had a good read. A bit on the short side this time, but eh, I think it works for a apresentation.
Let the game begin, as they say... Right?
But never play over 10 hours, folks. That'll kill you. I'm serious...