Becoming a Badass (High School DxD - Sacred Gearless Issei Hyoudou SI Chapter 2)
I panted as the end of the curb was coming in sight. Another left and a few more minutes and I'll be home.
I was doing my usual exercise of running ten laps around the area of my home. My route was about three blocks, and I end up passing by the Plaza Park. I think its the same one I would have died in, in canon. I honestly didn't realize that until I week after getting into my routine.
Still, three blocks distance is pretty good for an eleven year old to manage each morning.
A guy on a bicycle passed me by.
Don't think about it. Don't compare.
After all, I was just a normal kid. No magic, nothing. I'm doing pretty good.
Almost to the curve.
A car was coming. I started speeding up.
Obviously it passed me.
Don't think about it. Don't compare.
Less than ten meters.
I heard someone coming up behind me. From the loud footsteps, and panting, it was another runner like me.
I gritted my teeth and kept up. Three meters now.
"Yo, Issei-kun! Running again, this morning. Man, you never miss a day, good job!" Said a college student as he passed me by, his route straight ahead, rather than turning to the left like mine.
"Th-Thanks, Sanata-san!" I panted and spoke. Voice a bit low at the start before I shouted. He didn't react. He probably didn't hear me.
Don't think about it. Don't compare.
I felt even more tired now for wasting my breath. I turned the curb and could now see my house, a bit further and on the right.
My exhausted never felt more prevalent. Like, I'm home now, I can relax and just walk the rest of the distance.
I tried to keep going. My legs felt heavy.
Was my chest burning? Well, no, but I still felt tired.
I lost concentration and almost tripped myself up in the next step.
I quickly put my foot forward and corrected myself. I ended up stopping, but I was still standing and unharmed.
"...fuck it." I walked the rest of the way home.
I don't have the energy to start jogging again.
I still jogged all the other laps. This is great, you know. Awesome effort.
Screwing up at the last bit is fine, it's not the end of the world. Heck, it's not even screwing up, since I kept up my jog for the laps.
This is fine.
I got home, went in and put my shoes in their place.
"Hey, Ise-kun." My mom greeted me with a smile. "Breakfast by the time you come down. Be quick, so you can eat with us before your father goes to work."
"Okay." I nodded back and did that. My showers were quick anyways since I used cold water. After the initial hit, it's kinda pleasant with how heated my body was.
Everything was route. Today was another day, where after a morning jog and breakfast, I'd go to school, come back home, do homework and study then some video games.
Same old, same-
"What do you say we visit the Ise Grand Shrine this weekend?" My dad said out of the blue.
"Huh?" I looked up from my food, to see that he and mom were actually talking with each other, before that question was asked toward me.
"Yeah!" My mom said cheerfully. "I know how you don't like birthday parties, but how about this year we just go on a trip?"
"But my birthday passed." I said neutrally.
"No reason not to celebrate again!" My dad laughed. "Come on, Issei. It will be a fun family trip."
"...Yeah, sure." The whole thing felt odd, or maybe that's them just forcing this trip (or maybe I'm just the one who's awkward about this) but it was kinda neat. Going on a trip is always nice.
My parents smiled and cheered, as we were going on a trip. They were pretty goofy, but they were good parents.
"Issei. Issei-kun, come on wake up." My mom's voice pulled me out of sleep.
I blinked a few times, and saw people getting up to depart the train.
"We're here?" I rubbed my eyes as I stretched in my seat before getting up.
It was the day of the trip, and the plan was for us to wake up really early catch the bullet train, and make it there in time to enjoy the rest of the day. I may have felt a bit grumpy that I didn't wake up earlier than I usually did, so I could do my daily jog. At least I woke up with my parents so we were able to get ready, have breakfast and move relatively quickly.
The bullet train was four hours. I don't know why, maybe because I was still young in this life, but that felt like an ungodly long amount of time. I ended up sleeping, before my parents woke me up, for our connect train at Nagoya, from which we went directly to Ise, Mie.
"Wow, look at this place! So cool, right, Issei-kun?" My mom said encouragingly.
"Yeah!" I said equally excited. I didn't have to fake it. It was a pretty neat place.
The small city of Ise had this old feel to it. The structure and style of the buildings was old, even still have that triangle or pyramid-style look, and some genuine hōgyō-zukuri.
We first went to the small inn we were going to stay at for the night to register our room. After that we walked around the city for a while, seeing some of the attractions in it.
Eventually we reached the shrine. It was actually not that crowded, surprisingly enough. Then again we were lucky not to come here at a time of a festival or new years.
"-chan, you really need to be more attentive of your duties! How many guests complained about you so far?"
A elderly voice came from somewhere near us. From one of the shrine house buildings, there was an elder woman lecturing some young woman, a miko by her dress.
"Yeah, yeah, grandma. It's not like walking people around like this is a tourist attraction is suppose to be my job. That's Nono's shtick." The miko in question, an orange-haired woman (very anime hair color, much wow), just rubbed the back of her head in annoyance, while nodding.
"There's you go with that lip again-" The old lady suddenly stopped upon seeing our group, before pulling the younger woman by the girl making her whelp. "Look. There's a new group here, just a small family. Go introduce yourself, be nice to them, be informative and make sure the suckers buy a lot of things from the gift shop."
Hey... You know we can hear you, right?
"Now go!" The older woman pushed the girl toward us before slapping her behind.
"Ah!" The miko cried out, before glaring at her granny (I think that's there relationship?), and then immediately turning to us with a wide smile. "Hello! Welcome to the Ise Grand Shrine! Are you new here? If you'd like I could show you around?"
"Oh thank you, young lady. I'm Hyoudou Gorou, this is my wife Miki, and our son, Issei. We wanted to show our son the shrine he was named after. I figured this would be a wonderful family trip." My dad introduced us, mom on one side, and me on the other, with him side hugging me, while having a hand on my shoulder. Damn short height. "There's a story about that I wanted him to know." He looked toward me as he said that.
The woman's smile looked vastly amused by my name, before softening after hearing the reason.
"Well, that is a very lovely reason to make this trip. If you wouldn't mind, I'd be glad to show you around and make this trip a very happy and memorable one." The girl went and crouched down to be close to my height. "And it's really nice to meet you, Issei-chan! My name is Yamada Miko, but you can call me, Onee-chan." She said with a wide grin.
I don't know why or for what reason but right then something did get my interest.
"You're a miko, who's name is Miko?" I said incredulously. "Your parents weren't really trying, were they?"
I wanted to be a little shit for a while.
A large vein pop on the side of her forehead, as her close eyes twitched in annoyance. She was really trying to keep her smile on.
"W-Wow," she said through gritted teeth. "How cute. Coming from brat named Issei, that came to visit the Ise Shrine." She then stood up and gave me a scary smile. "You know, mikos are caretakers of shrines, in a way that means they're bosses of the shrine. Thus, since I'm a Miko and you're an Issei, I'm your boss!"
What kinda logic is that? Are you a child?
"Pfft, I'd quit on the spot."
"Omikami give me strength for this job, even the children are insufferable." She said under gritted teeth. "Okay!" She clapped her hands while looking at me and my parents with a wide fake smile. "Let's start the tour. Please stay near." She said looking toward me. "You don't want any spoo~ooky ghost to drag any naughty children away."
I'm eleven not five. And that's if I was a normal child.
"Don't worry, Onee-chan, if you're around we'll all be fine." I said with a wide childish smile, that had the miko blink in surprise. "After all, one look at your face and even oni would run away." I said cheerfully.
Miko held a trembling fist before pumping it in the air, and shouted with fake enthusiasm.
"Let's go!" She growled out, with a murder-like grin. She is surprisingly patient.
I take back my old opinion, this trip was pretty fun.
