So, I'm back to uploading on SB and AO3 before this site, mostly because FF is getting...tiresome. And I mean that it's just weird to tick on the 'yes I would like to receive email alerts', only for the site to go 'EMAIL PROVIDER REJECTED OUR EMAIL' even though the bot email is not blocked or tagged as a spam account. Apparently this is a known thing, going by what the forums are saying. This, combined with the whole 'ads in between whole paragraphs', I'm just not feeling FF very much. It's kinda sad, since I like reading stories here, and that's what got me to start writing, so...yeah...

As for this story, the next chapter should be out by Monday at the latest. The chapter after that is gonna be a week out, but I've still got a bit in the tank. These next two chapters are actually gonna be the last before a timeskip, because I need to get to the High School part of 'High School DxD', because that's kinda an important part of the setting.

Disclaimer: Godzilla and all related trademarks are owned and licensed by Toho Co., Ltd, Legendary Entertainment, and Warner Bros. Pictures. High School DxD is owned and licensed by Ichiei Ishibumi and Fujimi Shobo. I own neither series, please support official releases.


"I can't believe you dragged me into this!"

"I can't believe you're still bitching like this," I told my brother.

"I could be checkin' out some sweet babes! Instead, I have to learn yoga!" Issei whined.

"Martial Arts is not yoga, you idiot! It's self-defense and ancient traditional-"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it! You're lame now~!" my brother groaned.

"You're lame!" I grumbled.

It had been about a week since I'd finally found a dojo, and Issei just didn't stop whining. I didn't plan on dragging him into this, obviously-especially since I'd basically gotten confirmation that I was in some bullshit anime plot ever since I met that spooky shadow man. If anything, I'd have preferred Issei had nothing to do with fighting or training to fight, or really anything of the sort.

But, like…that plan obviously didn't pan out, seeing as Issei and I were both hauling bags filled with training gear over our shoulders.

Yeah, my brother was thrilled to hear Kai-sensei tell him he believed in his dream. Right until he found out that he'd have to do 'exercise and shit', as he so eloquently put it. And Issei is practically a noodle when it comes to physique, so he'd have to work a lot harder than I did.

Halfway to the dojo, we also met up with Matsuda and Motohama. Both of our friends were also hauling their own gear over their shoulders. And, of the two of them, Matsuda was the only one who looked excited.

"I can't believe you dragged me into this!" the bespectacled boy whined.

"Quit your bitching!" the bald boy groaned. "This is gonna be great! Maybe now kids will stop hassling us!"

"They're probably still gonna hassle us. We're not learning the Hadouken or the Kamehameha," I hummed. "But, like, you could totally learn the Tetsuzanko."

"The tetsu-what-now?!" Motohama hissed.

"I mean, it's supposed to actually be the 'Tienshankao', but they kinda look the same when you read 'em. Shun uses them in Street Fighter III."

"Aww, that sounds so sick, man!"

While we were walking, we passed by a large group of people. You might be thinking, 'hey, why is that significant?', and you're probably right, it is weird that I mentioned that. Thing is, it wasn't a normal group of people.

They were all dressed in fancy clothes, like really expensive kimonos. While they were hurrying along, it was an odd sight. Even more strange, my brother and our friends just didn't notice this group of people walking by.

As some of them passed, I heard them talking about being late. I was getting some serious 'Wonderland' vibes, especially when I saw it. For a split second, the group of people changed in front of me.

Tails. Long, fluffy tails, sometimes multiple tails. And their heads were topped with pointed, fluffy ears. Some of them had full-on muzzles and paws while still somehow standing upright. An entire procession of fox-folk.

And then they flashed back to being people.

I looked back once in confusion. I noticed one of them, a small child, eyeing me curiously. I snapped my gaze away while silently mouthing 'what the fuck?', because…well, what the fuck? No, seriously!

This is the third time this week I saw something like that. Earlier this week, I was walking home late with Issei, and I swore I saw a dog with a human face walking past me. And my brother was completely oblivious to the fact that there'd been a dog with a human face.

At least in my old world, the monsters were a lot more fucking conspicuous.

Part of me wanted to tell somebody, anybody. But, if those creatures were just walking around out in public and easily hiding, who knows what could happen if I speak up? Also, if they end up trying to come after me, my unwanted plus one will probably act up, and since he's-as those guys said-the monster, it'll probably end with a continent blowing up or something.

…So, not gonna tell anybody or draw any attention from those things.

Not long after we'd arrived at the dojo, it started raining. While it was sunny out. While we'd managed to get to cover, it was still a strange sight.

"Can you believe that? Raining while it's all bright out?" my brother said cheerfully once we'd changed into our gi and walked back into the main room. "That's crazy, huh?"

"Yeah, good for them," I heard a voice mutter. Nearby, Kai-sensei emerged from a nearby closet with some tools and gear. "Meanwhile, the rest of us are beholden to 'weird shit' while they…"

I couldn't hear what he said after that. He was muttering to himself a bit in a way that made it seem like he was both annoyed and worried. The entire time, he was setting everything up.

"Alright! It's good that you four got here early like I said, because the first thing we'll need to start on…" he chuckled while making the finishing touches before facing us. "We'll need to make sure your bodies are conditioned correctly. So, I'm gonna have you do some tasks around the dojo to help you get in shape."

"What? Wait, are you just gonna have us do chores?!" Motohama cried out.

"...Yeah, basically~!" the blonde man shrugged. "I'm also going to show you some chores that need a specific way of doing them. They'll require very specific movements which will be ingrained into your mind, so you can do them on autopilot."

I ignored the bespectacled boys whining and glare while stepping forward. "Is this like 'wax on, wax off'?"

"Yeah, yeah, exactly! Now go wax off!" Kai-sensei suddenly blinked and went pale. "...S-Shit! Uh, don't actually do that!"

"Well, we aren't gonna do it in public!" Matsuda groaned.

"Yeah, who do you take us for?" Issei asked challengingly.

"Oh, thank god! Right, so, task assignments are…"

The thing is, Kai-sensei didn't just rattle off chore assignments. He'd grab each one of us and show us, in certain circumstances, how to do the chores. Like I'd predicted, some of the chores were being done to build up muscle memory and help us get certain movements down.

For me, well-

"Alright, Isashi! So, what I'm gonna do is bind your hands," the blonde man said cheerfully while holding up some rope. "And then, you're gonna clean a section of the floor here with only your feet. Ya dig?"

"...Ah, so this is to help me 'think with my feet', right?"

"W-Well, that, yes, but I was also gonna make sure you did it to get some footwork down," Kai-sensei chuckled. "You're pretty perceptive, huh?"

I fought down the memory of the precession of fox-folk while giving him a smile. "Heh, maybe. I wouldn't know."

"Right, well, I'll just get everything set up. And all of you, relax~!" the blonde man gave the other boys a reassuring wave. "I know you remember what I told you guys last week-"


Flashback

"Look, I understand what you're saying, but I'm still worried," Gorou sighed. "How can I know they'll be safe? What if they come home with black eyes from a stray punch?"

"...You think spars are gonna be the problem? We won't have them spar for a while, trust me," Kuukai giggled slightly. "Ah, yeah, have you guys only seen martial arts in movies? 'Cause it's not really gonna be sparring that causes all of that."

We were sitting in an office across from the two men. My father had brought us home only a couple of hours prior, and after they'd spoken, he led my mother to the car with my brother and I in tow. Now we were hashing out the details with the two martial arts masters, who were currently giggling.

Kuukai suddenly lifted his leg and placed it on the desk in front of us. He quickly removed his shoe and angled his foot slightly. There, I could see the remnants of an old injury-a scar and some discolored skin.

"I was around your son's' age, and I was just starting to break boards-you know how that works, right? Well, it was literally the first day I was gonna try that." The blonde man angled his leg a bit before pulling his foot off the table and grabbing his shoe. "I went in for a kick, and…well, I missed the board completely. Broke my ankle instead."

Syugo pulled off the glove on his right hand and slowly undid the wrappings around his knuckles. There was a scar on his hand, and some of the skin on his fingers seemed a bit misshapen. The man actually inspected it for a bit, a barely there wince tugging at his features as he showed it off.

"I was pretty young, maybe a bit older than your kids. I was training with a punching bag," the bald man sighed slightly as he shook his hand around like it was sore. "Missed the bag, slammed my fist the wrong way into the wall. Couldn't train for weeks."

"It's very unlikely that they'll get hurt from sparring. Sure, the kids may get some bruises, there's a chance they'll get a black eye, but like, that's not a frequent thing," Kuukai shrugged. "You're just as likely to get a black eye from a bad fall."

"Remember that time I fell off my bike?" my mother mumbled.

The other two men winced while Gorou just laughed. "Yeah, you were crying like a baby, and I had to carry you into the hospital because you thought you were dying. It was a broken wrist and a black eye." At Miki's dirty look, my father just snorted. "Don't give me that~! After I waited on you, hand and foot?"

"Ugh, fine!" Miki sighed before turning to the blonde man. "I'm not saying I don't have my own worries, by the way. I always figured that, if they'd ended up getting into sports, that we'd be doing the exact same thing. I just…"

Syugo tilted his head curiously at this. "This seems like it's a lot more than just some bruises. Did…something happen?"

"Once," I chimed in while pulling my hair back to show my scar. At the two men wincing, I simply shrugged while letting my hair fall back. "It wasn't that bad. I just fell off the playground-"

"I didn't do it!" Issei said suddenly. At the curious looks of everybody, my brother shook his head. "Sorry, force of habit…huh! I wonder how Rin is?"

"There's also a few…other reasons, actually," my father hummed, getting that worried look on his face.

It was that same worried look my parents would get that I only barely caught once while he and my mother were talking years ago. It was the same worried look that I found out meant my brother and I were 'try number three' and they were terrified something would happen to one of us. I didn't like seeing that look, because it looked like somebody who'd nearly given up hope once and grown so desperate that their life would've been at risk.

"Listen, I know that all this seems dangerous, but it's never because we'd want to hurt people. The complete opposite, actually," Kuukai held his hands up semi-defensively. "I started training in Karate when I was younger because I wanted to fight off a bunch of bullies. But…well, then I got really into it, because it was actually kinda fun. I made a bunch of new friends, I ended up traveling to different places, it was…well, it was amazing, honestly. Even with all these old bruises and scars, I don't have any regrets."

The way he talked was like an old man reminiscing about an incredible event. I couldn't think of it as anything other than him being genuine. I think my parents felt the same way, because they visibly softened at his words.

My father chuckled slightly, though he was still nervous. "Okay, I'm starting to understand. Still, I feel like I should be worried about medical bills-"

"Pfft, don't worry about that! We've got insurance," the blonde waved dismissively. "And if you're worried about gear, we only ask that you get them measured for their gi. I mean…some of the gear we've got here is old, but it's well maintained."

My mother made a small whine. "Okay, well, my final worry…this will keep them busy, right?"

"Uh…y-yeah, why?"

"Busy enough that they'll have trouble focusing on anything else?" my father continued.

"I, uh, well, what else would they be doing?" Kuukai asked.

"Are there any women-only bath houses nearby?" both my parents asked flatly.

"Yeah, are there?!" Issei asked excitedly.

"...Oh? Oh! Oh~!"

"Yeah, now you get it…"


Present

"Yeah, we won't have to worry about sparring, and if we get injured you have insurance," Matsuda hummed. "You gave our folks the same spiel. Also, how far away are the bath houses-"

"If I tell you that, your cousin will roundhouse kick me. And while I'm sure I can eat that, she'll just follow it up with the rest of her set." The blonde rubbed the back of his head nervously as his eyes shifted to the side. "That girl always goes for the liver when she can. Trust me, you'll understand how fucking painful that is once the year is up."

Thing is, I really didn't doubt that. From what I'd seen from fight commentaries, getting hit in the liver is like having your insides set on fire. I'd seen guys who were twice the size of their opponents fold with one shot.

"Right, now then, let's get things started," Kai-sensei smiled.

A few moments later, I was scrubbing the floor using only my feet to push the brush. Getting a grip around them was difficult, and I'd tried to simply grab the brush instead.

Except, hey, my arms were tied up, so I couldn't do that. Which was the point, I guess. But the problem is that this shit only looks good on paper-in practice, it sucks to actually have to do this.

"Alright, so far, so good. I'll wait for Syu to tap in since I've gotta deal with another student in a bit," the blonde tilted his head curiously. "Speak of the devil. How'd things go?"

Syu-sensei walked into the room with a tired sigh while rubbing the back of his head. The bald man gave Kai-sensei a sulking look.

"Just got off the phone with them. They're planning on heading to that bar for a meeting," Syu-sensei snorted. "The way they were talking makes me think they weren't happy about the weather. I mean, I can guess why they weren't happy, but still…"

"Yeah, makes sense," Kai-sensei clicked his teeth in annoyance. "I'll make a call to those other idiots. Hopefully, they won't be late this time. You willing to take over for this?"

"Uh…yeah, I think so?" the bald man grunted nervously.

"Relax~! You're great with kids!" the blonde playfully jabbed the other man with his elbow before turning away. "Tatsumiya is gonna be in soon, if you're worried. She can probably help you out."

"Ah, that's great, relying on our teenaged student to pick up the slack. How wonderful~!" Syu-sensei sighed as the other man left, giving me and the others a curious look. "Huh? Well, so far, you guys seem to be doing alright. Oh, but you three should be going just a little bit slower."

"What? But shouldn't we be getting this done as fast as possible?" Matsuda asked.

"That's not the point of the exercise. The movements you'll be doing are actually distinct blocking techniques used in different martial arts," the bald man had a small smile as he spoke, though he was also rolling his eyes. "I guess Kai decided to start you off with Karate techniques. Must be because Karate's pretty 'mainstream'."

"Okay, but why chores?" Motohama asked.

"It's this old thing from back when there were prohibitions on practicing martial arts. Either some people up top 'didn't want the peasants to get uppity', or something. Something like that also happened during the Allies' occupation and all," Syu-sensei hummed thoughtfully. "So, the best way to not get caught was to go 'oh, I'm not doing martial arts, I'm just doing chores'. And, y'know, that usually worked, because some people can be easily fooled."

"Oh~? Sounds cool, like some sorta secret society thing~!" Issei said excitedly.

"Yeah, pretty much~!" the bald man chuckled while tilting his head towards me. "Huh? You know, you're going a little fast."

"I know! Once I'm done, I can just scrub the floor counterclockwise…or, does that count as counterclockwise?" I called back.

"Ha! I think I see what you're getting at. Still, I guess a 'little' fast isn't much when you're still getting used to gripping with your feet," Syu-sensei nodded while tilting his head. "Ah, the rest should be along soon. Wonder if she'll be pissed…"

I didn't think much about that, instead I just continued scrubbing the floor…with my feet. Yeah, so, not the most elegant start, I know. But I had faith in the methods for the most part.

As for how I was doing it, I basically started at one corner and worked my way up and down the floor until I'd scrubbed the entire thing straight to the opposite corner. Then I'd work my way back from there. I described it as 'counterclockwise' because my lazy brain had no idea what else to call it, and I wasn't gonna put any effort into trying to wrap my head around finding a better word.

The entire time I was scrubbing, I'd listen in if I ever got close to my brother and our two friends. While Issei was complaining less, he was still complaining with the others. I figured he'd stop once we were about a couple of weeks in. This'll probably be good for him.

"Hmm?" I heard the bald man hum just as the front door opened with some shouting following not too far behind. "Ah, great, looks like they're here. Wonder if-oh yeah, she's here alright."

"Would you quit shouting?!" a boy's voice grumbled as it grew closer.

"Quit your bitching!" I heard Sousei, Matsuda's cousin, growling.

"You're being really loud!" another boy's voice pointed out nervously.

"Eat shit!"

"Sousei, that's enough!" a strangely familiar teenage girl's voice chided firmly. "Be nicer! And watch your language!"

"Tch! Whatever!"

"Hey, so your cousin's at the dojo now, right? Is he here now?" one of the boys asked.

"Probably~!" Sousei said with the kind of voice that you'd have when talking about a dead bug. "Him and his idiot friends."

"...She knows we can hear her, right?" Matsuda whispered.

"If she doesn't, she'll realize it," Syu-sensei giggled under his breath.

"Hey, it'll be nice to meet them!" the teen said cheerfully as her voice drew closer. "Come on, why don't we greet-"

Then they all entered the room proper. A few boys I recognized from school, Matsuda's very violent cousin, and a familiar highschooler whose eyes immediately narrowed. It took the other three a few moments to catch on, however.

"You four!"

"Oh, shit!" I hissed.

"Huh? What's-AH!"

"Well, this is gonna require context…" the bald man muttered.

A few moments later, my friends and I were all standing in front of a very irate highschooler while our martial arts teacher stood off to the side. Behind her were two boys our age who were looking at us curiously, all while Sousei held back chuckles.

Also, my hands were still tied up. So, that's nice.

"Hey, hey, what's going on out here?!"

"Umm, K-Kai-sensei? We don't really know," one of the boys said nervously as our blonde teacher popped his head into the room. "Tatsumiya just kinda….w-well-"

"Ugh, hang on!" Kai-sensei ducked back into his office, only to suddenly slither out tiredly and practically roll across the floor before jumping to his feet. Less 'cat-like tread', more like a sloth readjusting its body. "Oi, Mashiro! How's it going~?"

"Don't give me that! What the hell is this?!" the highschooler hissed.

"These are the four new students I told you about. Why, what's wrong?"

"These four lechers are a danger to our society!" the girl cried out.

"That's an exaggeration," Motohama hummed.

"Yeah, if anything, my entire goal in life is to save our society!" I protested.

"Hey, wait a minute! I know you guys!" one of the boys cried out happily. "You're those guys who deal out high-quality porn at school, right?!"

"...Pfft! What?! You guys are porn dealers?!" Kai-sensei laughed.

"Whoa, whoa! I'm not a porn dealer!" I cried out, much to the affirmations of my brother and Motohama. "That's Matsuda."

"Yeah, I'm the-hey! You can't just throw me under the bus like that!"

"Sinking ship, baldy! My hands are tied…" I lifted my arms to demonstrate.

"How are you a porn-dealer? You're ten!" Syu-sensei wheezed out.

"He's got some sort of 'connections' that let him get high-quality stuff!" the one boy said happily.

The blonde man turned to the bald boy curiously. "Like…what kind of connections?"

"Don't worry about it~!" both Matsuda and Sousei said at the same time.

All of us turned towards the girl in question with curious looks. Sousei simply tilted her head before shrugging.

"He's a perv, yeah, but he still makes us money. I ain't no snitch."

"Okay, that leaves me with way too many questions…" Kai-sensei muttered.

"The question you should be asking is 'why?', because…why?! These brats are the most indecent children I've met!" the highschooler, Tatsumiya, growled angrily. "They've willingly acted lewdly in public places! They're menaces!"

"...Wait, these are the kids that you met in the library?" the blonde man eyed me and my three friends with a smirk. "Y'know, they told me a very different story from yours about that incident. Also, which one was the one with the crappy pickup lines?"

"It was from a translated western book called 'pickup lines for dummies'," I chimed in, noting the curious looks from many of the others. "No, you cannot borrow it!"

"Aww!"

"T-That's neither here nor there! Why are they here?!" the teenager asked.

"...Because they signed up?" Kai-sensei offered dumbly. As the girl continued fuming, his eyes seemed to harden. "Because they had a determination about them that I couldn't believe. Because there's this energy they give off that tells me they can do great things," the blonde tilted his head at the teen's curious look. "I saw the same thing in you, and a bunch of the others, remember? Are you really going to question my intuition?"

"...N-No, no I will not, sensei," the girl's eyes darted towards the four of us dangerously. "I won't let them out of my sight, however."

Kai-sensei clicked his teeth nervously at those words. "Uh, yeah, about that. See, I was thinking-"

"We figured we'd have you help the others out while I deal with the new students and Kai does his paperwork," Syugo-sensei quirked an eyebrow at the looks the others gave him, particularly the sour look from the teen and the shocked look from the blonde. "What? Tatsumiya, you don't scare me~! Plus, I'm planning on working these four to the bone for the next few hours."

"Wait, what?!" Motohama asked.

"Please, don't kill me!" Issei whined.

"You're on, baldy!" Matsuda smirked.

"Glass houses~!" I chimed in.

"W-Well, I get to say 'baldy' because of that!"

"I'm pretty sure that's not how it works. Good attitude, though~!" the bald man chuckled before turning to the teen. "Kai will come help you once he's finished with his work. Think you can handle it?"

Tatsumiya crossed her arms and huffed. "Yeah, sure, I'll help them out. Just try not to make this a regular thing." The girl walked past us while giving me and my friends a dark glare. "But I'll be watching them. You four got that?!"

I let out a small 'heh' as my brother and our friends whimpered.

Yeah, this was gonna be a ride…


Not long after I finished scrubbing the floors on one section of the dojo, Syu-sensei helped me take off the bindings around my arms. Then he turned and had Matsuda take over for the next section while I continued cleaning the walls and windows. And yes, just like in the movies, I had to do them a certain way to get muscle memory. Meanwhile, my brother and Motohama were doing actual physical labor instead, just on the other side of the room.

Halfway through that, three of the dojo's other students walked into the room. It was the three boys that had been standing off to the side when Tatsumiya confronted us.

One of them was a dopey-looking, dark-brown haired kid who looked a bit chubby. He had a general laid back demeanor, but I could see a strange glint in his dark eyes that made it feel like he was analyzing me. So, despite appearances, I wasn't gonna jump to conclusions about him just yet.

The second was a boy who reminded me of Kirito from SAO, right down to the eye-color, but with a messy hairstyle more like Satou Pendragon. Despite seeming like a nice guy, at least going off of his friendly smile, he also struck me as a 'generic harem anime protagonist', simply because he ticked all the boxes. Based on that, I immediately pegged him as 'protagonist', which is what my nickname for him would be.

The third boy was a blonde kid with gray eyes. I remembered him from school more since I'd seen him in some of my classes, but I still hadn't remembered his name. What I knew was that he clearly had an ego, seeing as he was giving us a smug grin.

"Hiya! My name is Nishimura Kazuto~!" Protagonist said, revealing that even his name was like a generic protagonist. He was holding out his hand cheerfully while smiling. "I hope we get along~!"

I shrugged while taking his hand for a few moments. "I'm Hyoudou Isashi. You probably already knew that, though."

"Yeah, you're one of those idiot perverts from school~!" the blonde said, ignoring Motohama's offhanded protests from further away. "I'm Saji Genshiro, your senior! You better respect me because of that, you hear?!"

"...Respect is like money," I said as I went back to my chores. "It is not something you get for free, it is earned. And one can lose it just as easily~!"

"What kind of weirdo do you think you are?!" Saji growled. "What kind of place do you think this is, spoutin' off nonsense like that?!"

I froze and looked around in confusion, specifically at some of the posters on the walls. See, there were all sorts of posters and banners in the dojo that had different quotes and idioms. Stuff like 'the definition of insanity', 'if you get a bad wife, you're a philosopher', and my personal favorite 'always give 100%, unless you're donating blood'. Sure, most of these posters here were jokes, but the point was made.

The blonde boy had clearly caught on and was now red-faced. "T-That's not the point, damn it!"

"Ignore him. His head usually shrinks when you let it," the dopey looking kid hummed before bowing quickly. "My name is Bo Aichi. I hope we can get along~!"

"Nice to meet you~!" I mumbled.

"Hey, you and your brother are twins, right?" Protagonist asked. "Do you guys hear each other's thoughts?"

From across the room, I could hear Issei groaning, an action I quickly matched. The three boys standing near me were giving me varying looks, mostly of confusion. My brother let out an annoyed huff while turning away from his chore.

"No, we can't read each other's minds, and we don't finish each other's sentences," Issei growled angrily. "Why does everybody think that?!"

For some reason, Protagonist actually looked disappointed by that. I didn't ask why, but I still felt bad. The poor guy looked like he had the wind taken out of his sails, and I had no idea why.

"There's a story there, huh?" I heard Syu-sensei chuckling from nearby.

"People always expect us to do the 'psychic twin' bit," my brother whined.

"We asked them about it! It takes a lot of coordination to get it down," Motohama chimed in. "Also, they apparently flubbed it up the one time they did try. So they don't try it."

"So, what do you do as twins?" The dopey-looking boy asked.

"Uh…whatever we want, really," I shrugged. "I mean, not 'whatever', obviously. But we do different things."

"Like…what, exactly?" Saji asked.

"Uh…Issei, what do we do again?" I asked worriedly, hoping that I wasn't an inexplicably bland character.

"You read and write, and you like fantasy and action games. I like sculpting and drawing, and I prefer Dating Sims," Issei hummed cheerfully. "We couldn't be more different than we tried~!"

"...Aren't you both perverts?" the bald man asked.

"Well, yeah, but that's different! We have other things we do," Issei huffed. "It's just annoying that people always think we're supposed to be clones."

"Huh…so, why are you both training here, then?" Aichi asked.

"He roped all four of us into it!" Motohama whined while motioning to me.

"I didn't do anything specific. I just didn't wanna get mugged and thought it'd be cool to train," I chuckled nervously.

"There are so many better things I could be doing right now!" my brother whined.

"No, there aren't," I deadpanned.

Issei quickly deflated. "You're right, there aren't…"

"Bwuh?! But we could totally be checking out the bathhouses right now!" Motohama whined. "Instead, we've gotta do chores! How could you think this is more important?!"

"Quit being a bitch, bitch~!" Matsuda sang as he passed the bespectacled boy. "I think this is pretty fun~! I mean, sure, I do wanna see some unclothed babes…but, Sousei always knocks me flat all the time," the bald boy shrugged as he continued scrubbing the floor. "So, like, if I can get strong enough so that she can't do that, it'd be pretty cool~!"

"Heh, well, that'll be easy in about a week or so…sorta? Maybe? Sousei-chan hits really hard," Protagonist rubbed the back of his head nervously. "But it didn't take long for us. You'll join us in no time~!"

"Yeah, and you better be ready! Because I'm not holding back!" Saji huffed.

"Saji~!" Syu-sensei sighed tiredly. "If you don't hold back, you end up losing a sparring partner. Slow your roll, champ."

"B-But I want my shounen rivalry!" the blonde boy whined while turning back to me. "You! You better be my shounen rival!"

"I do the Rock Lee pose, so I'm not rival material. Also, since I'm not as strong as you yet, I couldn't actually be the rival, anyway."

"Well, duh! I'm the cool-headed rival! It's you who has to be the weaker one who wants to get stronger to fight me!"

"More like big-headed~!" Aichi muttered.

"What'd you say?!" the blonde growled.

"Oi, idiots! Your break is over!" I heard Tatsumiya crying from the other room. "Quit bugging Syu-sensei and get back in here!"

"Ah! S-Sure thing, Tatsumiya-san!" Protagonist called back sweetly, before discreetly turning back to the rest of us. "Those two girls are scary!"

"Don't let them catch you saying that~!" Syu-sensei chuckled.

"He's right, though," Aichi hummed while glancing nervously towards the direction the girls were in. "Enjoy this while you can."

At that, the three of them gave respectful bows to the bald man before leaving the room. For the next couple of hours, Syu-sensei would rotate me and the rest of my group into doing different chores. While the other three complained, I simply did what I was told.

Seeing as, in my last life at least, I knew how to maintain my own apartment, I at least wasn't particularly bothered that I'd be stuck doing chores for over a week. I knew this was just as much of a test of patience as it was training, and I doubted people would just jump into training a martial art without proper conditioning.

Sure, the next couple of hours were fine. It was just after we left that things got weird…


So, like I said, next chapter is gonna be the last before a timeskip. It's something I worked on ahead of chapter 2 actually, or at least part of it was worked before that.

A bunch of the characters/OCs I've made up to this point also share faceclaims with/are partially based on other Anime/Manga/LN/VN characters. And, honestly, if there's any problems with this...I don't care? I mean, I've seen plenty of fics where Raynare gets forgiven and she and Issei hook up almost immediately-even though that wouldn't naturally happen because holy shit Issei was traumatized by that bitch for volumes afterwards. Or every Fem!Vali fic where Issei and Fem!Vali just start fucking right away without any buildup, even though Ddraig and Albion would literally die before shit like that happened. I have nothing against you if you enjoy those things (I just can't understand it), but I feel like me 'borrowing' the designs/traits/ect. of characters from other series is a lot less audacious.

I didn't say this in the last chapter, but both the martial arts senseis are based on other characters too. Syu is based on, obviously, Sagat (he doesn't have the scars or missing eye), as well as Saitama from OPM. Kai is basically just an adult, brown-haired/bottled-blonde, Japanese Johnny Test (I'm not joking). I dreamt them up as characters while I was being medicated for foot surgery.

Protagonist/Kazuto is literally just the 'Stock Light Novel Protagonist' personified. The entire gag is that he can't possibly be a protagonist, even if he's 'that guy'. He's also literally psychic, hence why he was bummed when both MC and Issei said they didn't have psychic twin powers-he wanted somebody else to tell him he wasn't crazy because he can sorta read minds and move stuff with his own.

Tatsumiya is based on Yuri from DDLC, Sa-chan from Gintama, and Saya from HoTD (her personality is especially based on the latter). She's got some important backstory involving the main villain of the fic, who I showed last chapter as an evil shadow man. So, whenever he mucks about, she'll probably end up getting dragged into it.

Sousei is based off of Suguha from SAO and some VN characters-I forget which ones, I forgot to list them in the outline actually. She's literally just a textbook tsundere, so don't read into it too much.

I haven't decided on whether Tatsumiya or Sousei will be love interests-hell, I even put it in that Issei might pick them up, but those were just some possible plotlines. It's still too early to tell, so I'll see how that goes.

Now then, onto the reviews...

Some1call4MR-E: Yeah, I agree, not enough of the other pantheons got a lot of love. The Shinto pantheon, as well as some of the Buddhism pantheon, will sorta get some spotlight. The thing is, the situation in the Japanese spirit/magic world is at a precarious point, at least in this story, so most of the greater Kami are kinda checked out so long as nothing bothers them or their worship specifically. The only one that's really interested in that is Hachiman, though Ryūjin is paying attention, and at least one of the Four Heavenly Kings and a few of the bodhisattva are involved with assisting in it. I won't reveal too much, but the situation involves a lot of bickering Yokai. As for pantheons outside of Japan proper...well, Typhon somehow escaped from under that mountain (they neutered him hard af for some reason, though). I'll probably buff him up (he's fucking Typhon, he's not buff enough) when the arc he's in happens-after all, the true King of the Monsters needs to show him who's boss.

ArcaneDragonLord: Yeah, I agree that right now they're not attracted to them, but...canonically, Issei has to fall in love with those specific women, because the Chichigami/Breast Goddess told him that they would help him fight off evil robots from another universe. No, I'm not joking. No, I'm not high. This is actually a plot point, it happens in DxD volume 25. It's so fucking stupid, but like, I couldn't stop laughing about it, holy shit.

Kk: Hmm, no, actually, I'm not sure I'll be putting any other Kaiju in Sacred Gears and/or Longinus. I actually have Kaiju planned to show up that aren't from either the Godzilla series, or any of the related series-most of them are custom-made or from other B-movies that probably very few people have ever seen. I'll have an Informational Threadmark on SB that explains it better, but to sum it up; Gomess and Jirahs are more likely to show up than any Godzilla monster.

For anybody whose interested, you can check out my P a treon. Unfortunately, FF. Net doesn't do the links well, so you'll have to close the spaces below/rewrite it slightly on your browser.

P a treon. com(slash) Locksoli

As always, please leave any thoughts, questions, and constructive criticism in your reviews. And thank you for reading.