Chapter 16: The Star

"Buchou," Akeno said upon opening the door. "They're here."

Nodding, Rias gave her nonverbal permission for Akeno to prepare a pot of tea. She sat up straighter on her chair, readying herself for the encounter to come.

The door opened, revealing dear Asia shyly glancing in. Rias's stress quickly melted upon seeing her.

"Umm, Buchou? Raynare's here."

Her heart hardened once again as the door opened further, revealing a dark-haired girl further past it wearing a formal suit.

"The Fallen Angel Raynare," Rias gently stood up in greeting. "I never imagined seeing my once enemy parlaying with me today."

"You should thank Issei Hyoudou for that," she said, curtly bowing to her. "It's an honour to meet you, Lady Gremory. Please do not assume that I would hold a grudge against you for my once-teammates; they were traitors to the Grigori. I feel no remorse for them."

Rias nodded. "That is relieving to hear. Please, take a seat."

The two of them sat down, Rias taking her chair while Raynare placed herself on the sofa opposite her. Asia scantily galloped to the other sofa, taking a seat.

"Tea?" Akeno said, wearing a professionally steeled expression, gesturing to Raynare.

"Very well. Thank you."

Rias furtively glanced at Akeno, forcing her to stall the jitters in her arms. Lips taut, she placed a coaster and cup filled with her best tea before the monster.

Raynare graciously nodded at her and daintily took a sip. "Exquisite. I must commend you for your skill."

Akeno paused for a moment but replied a smidge too quickly. "Thank you."

Rias gently coughed, attracting attention back to her. "You've mentioned that it was Issei Hyoudou who had got you here with us? I was also led to believe that you've established communications with him as well. Is he not here?"

"Ah, um, Buchou," Asia spoke. "Issei said that something came up, so he had to leave us to this meeting alone."

Rias frowned. "Is everything alright?"

"Well, it's just class matters, I think."

"Class matters? I should've convinced Sona to put him in a better class…"

"N-No, he likes it there! Ah, um, we like it there, Buchou."

Rias held her gaze with Asia, who'd chosen to shrink under it. Sighing, Rias returned to her own glass of tea.

"I will deal with the Red Dragon Emperor later. For now, I must ask this. Raynare, I have received an address from Azazel that you are here as a liaison for the Grigori within this territory. In that case, why is it that you chose to renovate the Red Dragon Emperor's house?"

Raynare blinked. "Oh, you lot are thinking that I'm currying favour with him? Well, I won't say no, but it's also the fact that I was always Lord Azazel's maid outside of my duties in an espionage team. That is a part of me that I do not wish to lose, and since Issei Hyoudou was the one to save me back there, I have decided to help him by treating him as my master."

"And how has he taken to these tidings? You can't say that you've still tried to take away a possible ally from the Devils?"

Raynare shook her head. "If anything, he did not enjoy any of what I had done. With his history, I imagined that he would enjoy a girl in a maid's dress calling him Master, but he keeps asking me to stop instead. And you should have seen his rants about king-sized beds and houses way too big for three people."

Rias raised a brow. "Is this true, Asia?"

"Y-Yes, Buchou! It's all true!"

Rias hummed. "That is rather unexpected of him. He is not one to be tempted by luxury, then? Maybe it's a lack of luxury in itself?"

Raynare smirked. "I don't know how much more luxurious you could go with my work. Are you saying that you could do better?"

"I have lived in the Gremory Mansion for most of my life, so I certainly have high standards. I will judge your work when I visit him once more."

"You won't be disappointed. Trust me."

Nodding, Rias carried on. "In that case, I hope you understand the conditions placed on you for your stay here?"

"I get it. No harming the citizens… but I'll have to ignore that rule if these citizens choose to harm my new Master."

"So willing to fight for the Red Dragon Emperor already?"

"That is the order that Azazel-sama gave me, after all."

A buzzing sound spread through the room, revealing Asia taking her phone out of her pocket and checking something on it.

"Ah, um, Buchou? Some of my classmates are calling me."

Rias raised a brow in concern. "Are you okay with that class? I understand that Issei-kun is with them too, but I can convince Sona to move you to another class instead?"

"Oh no, we're fine! In fact, Issei is warming up to most of them. I'm sure I'll get along with them too!"

Rias still frowned but nodded. "Very well. If you need to leave, then feel free to go."

Raynare did not look back at Asia as she left the room. After all, she had to keep herself from asking the question in her mind.

'What trouble did Issei get into, and how are Stands involved?'


"Why would you fight each other so early…" Asia bemoaned as she healed the three fighters using her Sacred Gear, now called a Stand.

The place had become a complete wreck. Once Noboru brought her to that location, she immediately recognized what happened. Alarmed, she'd first headed to Issei to check in on him, but he reassured her that it was simply a spar. She didn't like how serious a simple 'spar' could go, but she still healed them.

"Hey, um, we still have a problem," Issei said, having been fully healed in moments. "How're we going to hide all this?" he said, gesturing at the ruined field around them and the destroyed walls of the school.

"We've got our cloooothes to fix too," Sakuna chortled. "Don't worry, someone is coming to help with it."

"U-Um, y-you all called for me?"

A fairly short boy wearing round glasses approached them, wearing the signature blue pants of 2-E. Short black hair fluttered about as he waved his head and inspected the situation. "W-What happened here? An enemy?!"

"No enemy, Kiyoshi," Fumihiro Sasaki said with a grunt. "We just had a spar with the new kid."

"O-Oh, like that message we got?" he said, pushing his glasses up his nose. "Ah, um, you're the new kid, right? Oh, the girl is here too?!"

"Uh, hi," Issei said, curtly waving to him. "I'm Issei Hyoudou and this is Asia Argento." Asia quickly bowed to him at her call, following the Japanese custom she'd rigorously learned from Rias the day before.

"Umm, good morning," the boy said, fidgeting with his hands clasped in front of him, shrinking down on himself. "I-I'm Kiyoshi Nakajima, nice to meet you."

"H-Hello," Asia said, mimicking his nervousness.

"Hey," Issei followed, then turned to Sasaki. "Am I fighting him next?"

"Wah – no! I don't want to fight you!" Kiyoshi rapidly shook his hands in refusal. "I-I'm just here to help take care of all this damage."

"Oh? How're you going to do that?"

"… Like this," the boy hung his head low and approached Sasaki. "Silence."

A grey aura enveloped his body, emanating into an easel and brush. Kiyoshi grabbed his Stand and wildly brushed over Sasaki's ruined clothes. While a grey aura remained on the damaged parts, nothing seemed different about it.

"… What did that do?" Issei asked.

"U-Um, my Stand works with secrets…" Kiyoshi began, hiding away from Issei's glance. "I-It can turn anything into a secret."

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Issei raised a brow. "You can turn anything into a secret? Even something like, I don't know, whether someone is human or not?"

"Nonononono, not like that! I can't make people forget things!" Kiyoshi finally turned to him, chiding him for his remark. "I can make anything into a secret from the moment I apply my Stand's ability. Anyone who already knows the secret will not forget it, but they can't tell anyone else."

Asia frowned. "… What will happen if someone tells these secrets to someone else?"

"N-No, there's no penalty or anything like that. They just won't register the secret. That's how my Stand works. It makes something unable to be learned by anyone. That's how it's kept a secret. The people who already know it will keep it, but the moment they try sharing it with someone else, the recipient will think they're saying something else."

"Wait, so how does this work with our clothes?" Issei asked.

"Y-Your clothes' current state can be turned into a secret. So, if anyone sees them, they'll see what they expect, and that is normal clothes."

"Well, that is awfully convenient," Issei said. "What about the state of the wall? Isn't it a risk to keep it this way?"

"We'll just leeeave that to the school," Sakuna smirked. "Wait for a day and lift the secret. That's how we handle stuff like this."

"… very well. Go ahead, Nakajima-san."


Issei couldn't stop fiddling with the paint-like stuff on his clothes, constantly messing around with the patches. Silence worked better than he thought, considering how nobody, not even Matsuda and Motohama, noticed anything odd about his clothes when they saw him. He didn't see any more of Raynare after that, but after hearing Asia's review of the meeting, he decided that she simply left the school once she had finished up the meeting. Later in the day, he'd even gotten a message from her saying that she returned safely. He sent a quick reply and focused on his classes.

Recess came quickly, bringing Issei and Kiyoshi Nakajima together once more.

"Man, why can't you Silence Calculus or something? Maybe they'll give up on teaching us that stuff if nobody can learn it."

Kiyoshi froze. "I-I don't want to do that! Do you even realise how massive the consequences of that will be?"

Issei sheepishly grinned. "Ahh, yeah. I mean, I already knew, I was just messing around."

Kiyoshi harshly pouted at Issei, something he felt wasn't cute if it didn't come from a girl. However, in a moment, his face relaxed.

"Oh yeah, you were supposed to meet someone right now!" Kiyoshi nearly screamed before diving into his phone. However, as he lifted it up, he looked past him at something. Turning around, he noticed what it was that he was looking at. Two girls were walking up to him.

"Um, Issei?" Kiyoshi said, making Issei turn back to him for a second. "Good luck. You'll need it."

Gulping, he turned back to face the two girls who approached him. One he already knew, but he couldn't really remember her name. She was the one accompanying Aia Ito, that girl with Ocean Eyes. The other he recognized from his previous meeting in Natsuki's bakery, but he never got her name.

"Yo, Issei-chan!" the light blue-haired girl he remembered by Ito's side grinned and waved at him. "What's up?"

"Hey, um, sorry, I forgot your name."

"Oh, that's okay! It must be hard to learn everyone's names for the first time, huh? I'm Hanako Kogawa! Don't forget it again, got it?"

Issei smiled and nodded. "I won't."

"Hm! Ah, wait! You don't know her either!" Hanako immediately gestured to the girl by her side: she looked rather different when compared to most Japanese, Issei would even think she was a foreigner. Her light brown hair and blue eyes seemed to enforce that ideal.

"This is Hoshi Eguchi! She's the American of our class!"

"Come on, Hanako," Hoshi said, her accent denoting her roots. "Why can't I introduce myself instead? And I'm Half-American, for your knowledge."

"Because it's fun!" Hanako cheerfully replied.

Hoshi sighed, palming her head, then turned back to Issei. "Well, this idiot did it for me. Hoshi Eguchi, nice to meetcha."

"H-Hey," Issei stuttered, feeling awkward at meeting someone new. Pausing for a moment, he decided to switch tactics for a moment. "You speak English, right?"

Hoshi raised her brows in surprise. "You speak pretty well for a Jap! You're hiding your accent and everything!"

Her quick drawl would have been difficult to get if Aniki hadn't occasionally spoken to him that way too. Also, if all else fails, he had his Language Spell to rely upon. "Y-Yeah, I trained hard. My brother works in America, so he taught me."

"Interesting, never thought I'd meet someone who knew English this well here," Hoshi smirked. "I thought I had to suffer Japanese 'Engurish' for the rest of my time here."

"Hey, stop speaking in other languages!" Hanako yelled at the two of them. "I don't understand a word you're saying!"

"That's alright, Hanako-chan. We'll carry on in Japanese for you," Hoshi said. "Now, Issei Hyoudou, right? You don't mind if I call you Issei? I hate this last name bullshit this land came up with."

"Y-Yeah, I'm alright with that."

"Cool. Issei, you know why we're here, then?"

Issei's expression turned grim and his nervousness left him. "Are we going to fight, then?"

"Mhm! Our Stands are cool, so you should check them out!" Hanako cheered.

"But unfortunately, that's not what we're here for," Hoshi continued, making Issei gape in confusion. "We're just here to convey a message."

"Huh? What message?"

"You remember MC from yesterday, right? Well, he wants to talk to you for some reason. He even sent a message to stop all training for now."

"W-Wait, really?" Kiyoshi remarked. "I thought we were taking lots on this!"

"Yeah, and we were supposed to be next," Hoshi frowned. "But we can't help it. MC called off all fights until he speaks with him."

"Then… what about today morning?" Issei asked.

"Today morning? What do you mean?"

Nearby, Fumihiro Sasaki looked to the side and frowned guiltily.

"U-Um, I just Silenced some of the scuffs he g-got from a fight with Sasaki-san and Hirose-san earlier today."

"Really, now?" Hoshi said, glaring at Fumihiro, who hung his head low, and Sakuna who was still grinning.

"Aaaaall his idea."

"The hell?! You're throwing me under the bus, Sakuna?!"

However, Fumihiro couldn't say anything else. Every person in the class was staring at him like he was dead meat, after all. He reeled in on himself like a kicked puppy.

"L-Look, I just wanted to get a good measure of the guy! Yeah, that's all!" he said, pulling a cutesy nervous pose that did not pair well with his body and the scars on his face.

The people of Class 2-E looked at each other, seemingly nodding at each other.

"Susumu and I have cleanup duty today!" said a short boy, even though Issei couldn't see how short he was past his desk. "We can hand it off to them!"

"Hn, this wonderful Kanpeki Danna approves of this," said Kaneki Daruma, someone Issei barely remembered from his odd way of speech. "And are we not supposed to scout the mail guy tomorrow for the mission?"

"Look, we can't do that without Fumi, though," said a girl with a dark red ponytail. "He's the one with Eye of the Tiger, and we need that."

"Don't we have another option?" Noboru spoke up next. "Susumu, can't you scan for him?"

An idle boy with oddly shiny skin slowly looked up at him. "… Not interested."

"Oh, come on, robo-buddy!" Noboru waved at him. "Let's give these guys their punishments!"

"Look, don't we have a say in – "

"Quiet, you!" barked a white-haired girl with twin tails he briefly remembered as well to Fumihiro. "You broke rules by fighting that pervert today morning, face the consequences like a man!"

'Wait, pervert?!' Issei couldn't help but think. 'I've already stopped that! Why is she still saying stuff like that?!'

"Don't think I can't read your thoughts, Sakuna," Aia Ito said, her eyes shining with the effect of Ocean Eyes. "You're not joining either."

"Noooo problem," Sakuna hummed. "But the stranger?"

"He's too green," said the same dark red haired girl from earlier, gently rubbing her nose. "There's no way we can bring him into this."

"He's a good scouter, though," Noboru countered.

"Don't we have you and Susumu for that already?"

"You're seriously making me join?" the boy with shiny skin, Susumu, grumbled. "Can't you just leave me be?"

"It'll be fun, come on!" Noboru eagerly said.

In the background, Kenta Itawari rested his head on the table. He always hated it whenever his class made plans regarding their Stands, after all.

"Okay, then!" Azumi Ahame clapped, making Daichi who was sitting next to her sigh. "We're kicking out those two troublemakers from tomorrow's excursion, so who's in the team?"

"You can't complete a team without my wondrous presence!" Kaneki Daruma yelled, his wavy blonde hair fluttering as he waved his head about. "I will join!"

"I'll be there too!" Noboru cheered, flashing a peace sign to the class. "Susumu as well!"

"… if everyone insists."

"Good!" Azumi said. "Who else?"

"I'm joining," Aia said. "In case we need to read them."

"Ooh, ooh, me too!" Hanako cried out.

Aia sighed. "Hanako-chan, please, you don't need to follow me everywhere. You're not fit for this mission."

"But whyyy?!"

"Okay, wait, before you continue," the red haired girl spoke up again. "Ito-san shouldn't tag along. You're much more valuable in our later excursions if we need to figure something out. We can't risk anything happening to you yet."

"Hmm, I agree with that," Azumi replied. "So, who's going to read the guy, then?"

"I'll do it instead," the same redhead decreed.

"Are you sure, Kairi-chan?"

"Of course," Kairi said. "I'm the only other person who can fill that role, after all."

"Can I come, then?" the short boy from earlier asked.

"We're not looking to smash stuff, Hayate-kun," Azumi replied.

"Aww… I wanted to grow a little…"

"… shouldn't Omori join you?" Fumihiro said, albeit softer than usual. "She's good too."

"H-H-Huh?! Me?!" a shaking, dark haired girl that gave Issei the standard image of 'creepy' exclaimed. "Ooohh, I don't want to get hurt, though…"

"I-It's okay, Omori-san!" replied Kiyoshi Nakajima from besides Issei. "You'll be fine, I'm sure! Your Stand will take care of you!"

"… I still get hurt, though."

"Come on, Nyoko-chan, take one for the team?" Azumi asked, trying to perk her up.

Nyoko Omori, however, simply hung her head lower. Despite that, she still replied. "F-Fine, I'll join."

"Hoshi-chan, we'll need a heavy hitter too, just in case," Azumi turned to the Half-American girl. "Are you good to join?"

"Sure, why not?" she shrugged, slurring her words in her drawl. "Got nothin' better to do."

"Umm, Issei?"

Issei nearly jolted at the voice near his ear and turned to find Asia having snuck towards him to speak. "What are they talking about?"

"Oh, umm," Issei remembered how the group decided that they didn't want Asia to join, but he couldn't keep it wholly hidden from her after all that. "These guys were given a job related to Stands. Apparently, someone brought the corpse of a dead Stand User to our town. We're trying to track down its whereabouts."

"… You too?"

"Technically, yes," he sighed and admitted. "But I haven't gotten all of the details like these guys yet."

"Then… Then what about this MC person you're meeting today?"

"We actually met him yesterday at that bakery, soon after you left."

Asia grimly nodded. "What can I do to help?"

Issei huffed and placed his hands on Asia's shoulders. "The best thing for you to do is to stay away. You can't handle this, Asia."

"But why not?! We managed to stop Raynare, right?!"

"Shh! Quiet about that!" Issei hushed her, pulling her in and closing her mouth. "Please, Asia," he whispered to her, making sure that no one could hear him. "You don't have a Stand of your own. You can't see any of this."

Asia pried her mouth away from Issei's grasp. "But my Sacred Gear can – "

"It can't help you against things you can't see, Asia," Issei interrupted her. "As much as I'd love to have you there with us, I can't in good conscience ask you to follow."

"But I can still help!"

Issei pursed his lips, not wanting to mention that particular point, but he had no choice if Asia was this persistent.

"Can I tell you something that Sasaki-san told me on my first few days here?" Issei said. "He said that people who don't know themselves have no business being a Stand User. Asia, I know this doesn't apply to you, but please understand that we just saved your life. And I know that you're still trying to adapt to things here, so please, don't push yourself. Leave this to us. I will come back safe, I promise. And if we ever need your help, I'll even bring one of Gremory-san's summoning fliers to call you."

Asia went rigid, alarmed. "You want to show them that?"

"No, I don't, but I will if we have no choice," Issei morosely replied.

Asia frowned, looking down. "Are you sure, Issei?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Then, if that is what you want."

Issei sadly smiled at her while gently patting her head. "I'll make it up to you, I promise."

"Okay, everyone!" Azumi clapped, then giggled. "Monika's thing really does work. Anyway, here's the team we've got planned for tomorrow. Hoshi-chan, Nyoko-chan, Kaneki-kun – "

"Kanpeki Danna!"

" – Susumu-kun, Kairi-chan and Noboru-kun! In the meantime, we'll all go our own separate ways, but Hyoudou-kun – wait, you don't mind if I call you Issei-kun, right?"

Issei grimaced; it seemed that far too many people would use his first name that day. "Sure, I don't mind."

"Thank you, Issei-kun! Anyway, you head to Natsuki's café after school. MC's orders, understood?"

"… Right, I got it. Asia, can you let Raynare know?"

"Of course! I-I hope things turn out okay!"

The whole class briefly gave Asia a sympathetic glance before the bell rang. Unanimously, they scrambled down the rest of the food they had.


Issei stood before the entrance of Sakurai's Cakes, taking quick breaths to calm himself. He did not know why MC was calling him and just him, so he was most certainly nervous.

Steeling himself, he walked up to the door to walk in. Just before he could put a hand on the handle, the door opened.

"Hyoudou-senpai," Koneko noted, having stepped out of the bakery as well. Issei noticed that she was carrying a bag, most probably filled with cupcakes. "Why are you here?"

"W-Well, I just…" Issei had not prepared for Koneko to catch him red-handed, so he was struggling with coming up with a lie. "I-I wanted to try their cupcakes again!"

Koneko frowned and turned up her nose. "Smells like a lie."

"O-Oh, come on, you can't blame me for wanting to try them again, right?" Issei said, scrambling for a way through this situation. "U-Umm, Aniki told me that I was supposed to be on a diet…" was the best that he could come up with on short notice.

Koneko raised a brow. "Red Dragon Emperor is fat?"

"Oh, come on, don't put it like that!" Issei moaned, hating how he was putting himself down before someone like Koneko. "I'll just grab one, and maybe two for Asia and Raynare each, and then I'll go back!"

"Red Dragon Emperor is fat?"

Issei scrunched his lips up. "I… saw a bit of a rise on the scale that I couldn't account to muscle."

"Okay. Fat Dragon Emperor."

"You say that to the wrong person, and they'll take it wrong. You know that, right?!"

However, Koneko was already off. Issei looked at her as she walked away for a moment, then sighed. "That… could have gone better," he told himself.

"Sure could have!"

Issei jolted out of his thoughts and looked ahead, seeing Natsuki leaning past the door while nibbling on a cookie while grinning at him. "Trouble in paradise? Never took you for the little girl type, but I'm glad to see she doesn't return them."

"Don't take that so out of turn! And I'm one hundred percent a boob guy, not the loli type!"

Natsuki grimaced with a quirked brow. "… Reina was right about you, huh? You really don't put a lid on that stuff?"

Issei sighed, having finally caught himself. "Sorry, lost myself a bit there. I'll admit, I had a problem, and I'm trying to recover."

"Super tragic backstory," Natsuki mumbled as she tossed the last of her cookie into her mouth. "Anyway, follow me. Mom's taking over the shop for now."

Natsuki invited him into the café, so Issei followed. She led him past the kitchen doors once more, bringing him to the same meeting room as last time. To his surprise, however, Natsuki locked the door behind her.

"Okay, what's with that?" Issei asked, suddenly wary of what would happen.

"Don't worry, it's just to keep people from seeing us not here."

"Not here?"

"Mhm. We're going through the portal this time." Natsuki brought out her runestone once more and shot a message to someone. As expected, a purple shroud appeared before the glass-covered stone. "Ready?"

"… can I say no?"

Natsuki smirked at him, making him sigh. "Let's get going, then."

Natsuki gestured to the portal, so Issei nervously approached it. Letting out a breath, he held up a hand and slowly pushed it through. He jolted as he felt something from the other side and hastily pulled his hand back.

"It's just a pressure difference, no big deal," Natsuki noticed his nervousness and appeased him. "Here, let me help. Sweet Victory."

A robotic silver Stand emerged from her body riddled with pink arrows. It quickly grabbed onto Issei and before he could protest, it threw him into the portal.

His stomach lurched and his ears popped as the wave of purple passed, and he found himself in the living room of a house. The room was furnished with everything one would expect of a family home; pictures of parents and their child, photos of the kid himself, kitchen, couch, tv, everything.

"Welcome to my place," said the person in front of him that finally made himself known. The same person in those photos, but this time all alone. "You're in America now, if you didn't realise," said MC.

Issei heard a whoosh, then looked back to see the portal close behind him. "… Is this some way to separate me from everyone in the class?" he said, still on the ground.

"Oh, don't be worried about that. I promise I'll send you back today. There's just something I need to check first."

"Isn't Natsuki coming here?"

"I'll have to check this first, though."

Suddenly, MC teleported to be standing behind Issei, pressing a finger to his chin. "This… is complicated."

"What… what was that? Is that your Stand?" Issei leaned back while lying down to ask this.

"You can call that my love for the dramatic; the Chinen twins really rubbed off on me," MC said, waving him off. "But we need to talk about something first."

Like a normal person this time, MC walked over to his couch, swiftly slapping down the other end. "Take a seat. You don't need to stay down there all day, after all."

Grumbling, Issei finally stood up and walked to the opposite end of the couch. Plopping down, he started. "So, what's this about?"

"… Do you know what happened to Alliance High?" MC started.

"Alliance? Yeah, they had that disease spreading in there, right?"

"That happened only later."

"Then… the thing that happened to everyone in 2-E? I'm sorry I don't know much about that, though."

"That's not it, either," MC said, leaning forward and steepling his fingers. "The first incident involving Stands within Alliance stood even before that moment. In a sense, it was because of this incident that the 1-E people got their Stands."

"First incident? What do you mean? I've not heard of anything like that."

"I'm not surprised. This happened in another universe, after all."

Issei blinked. "… Okay, you've lost me."

MC waved apologetically. "Sorry, I'm not the best at explaining things, especially something as complex as my Stand. Here's what you need to know, though. Back then, the Literature Club of Alliance High was just me, Sayori, Natsuki, Yuri and Monika. Monika, back then, was working for someone… who is also pretty difficult to explain. But essentially, she was trying to ruin the lives of her clubmates so that she could drive me insane."

Issei frowned. "What kind of plot is this?"

MC sniggered. "Plot. Yeah, that's a good way to put it, but it isn't. As much as we don't want it to be, we had to suffer through the trials she put us through. In the end, we saved her from her notions and turned against her 'boss'.

"Throughout those trying times, however, there was one outside our little group that joined us. One who helped us through our trials, all for the sake of a higher prophecy that he believed in.

"That man was Geoff Joster. Our ally… and a good friend of mine."

Issei stayed quiet, setting his expression low as he focused on MC.

MC took a quick breath, then carried on. "Geoff Joster was, by his description, a Joestar. An entire family whose every member is meant to follow out and carry through a change to destiny itself. The Joestars are commonly spoken of as heroes in our time. They're the ones that take the stand against the greatest evils the world has to offer.

"Unfortunately, not every Joestar actually lives to see their victories."

Issei watched as MC turned his body around and pulled down the sleeve of his left shoulder. To his shock, he noticed something there. An extremely familiar star-shaped birthmark.

"You have one too, don't you?" MC said. "When I moved behind you, I was actually checking for it. I noticed it on you as well."

"What… what is that?" Issei asked. "Is there some significance to it?"

MC smiled. "Geoff died, but he left behind something extremely valuable to me," MC carried on with his story. "With my Stand's power, he essentially forced this birthmark that was once his onto me. He changed my entire heritage so that I could pick up where he left off. This mark, Issei Hyoudou, is the mark of a Joestar. Every member of the Joestar bloodline is born with it."

Issei stayed still for a moment, then gently pulled back his own left collar. The same mark was there on his left shoulder, almost taunting him with its presence. "So… what does this mean for me?"

"You're a Joestar, Issei Hyoudou," MC said. "We may not know all the secrets behind you yet, but I want to ask if you have another name first?"

"Another name? Like what?"

"A literal other name. One that could possibly be abbreviated to 'JoJo'."

Issei shook his head. "All I've had is Issei Hyoudou, unless you want the names other people used to call me."

"Sure, I'll hear them."

"… pervert, enemy of women, dickless – "

"Oookay, that's not what I meant," MC hissed. "So… it's just Issei Hyoudou, then?"

"Yeah, that's all. But what about this damn mark? You managed to take it from this Geoff guy, right? Can you take mine as well?"

MC grimly shook his head. "That's not something I will ever do again. I'm sorry to say, Issei, that you'll be owning that mark all by yourself."

"Then… Then what does this mean?! I don't know anything about any of this, and I kind of want to call you out on bullshit too!"

"I know that this is a lot to take in, but you can take your time," MC reassured him. "As for what this mark is, it's just a mark of greatness. It's also… a mark of Gravity. Rather, that's what I think of it. When every other Stand User is like a planet that pulls other Stands Users towards themselves, we are Stars that pull as many planets to revolve around us. Gravity's effect is much worse on people like us."

"… the Supernatural, then…"

"Sorry?"

"O-Oh, it's nothing," Issei threw him off, not wanting to clue him in on his thoughts. In truth, he recognized that it was this effect of his Joestar bloodline that enabled him to link those two different worlds. A Stand User and a Sacred Gear Wielder in one, he imagined there weren't a lot of people like that out there. It felt, oddly…

"… lonely."

"Yeah, it can feel like that at times," MC said. "Now, I'm not saying any of this to give you a big head. I want you to understand that in the end, these situations you will get into with whoever you're grouped with are fated to happen to you. Running is not an option, Issei. You will have to meet this issue head-on at some point."

"Meet it head-on, huh?" Issei chuckled, a distant look in his eyes. "I wish I could do that."

"… Maybe you can tell me about it?" MC asked. "I can help you."

"No. The fewer Stand Users know about this, the better," Issei reaffirmed. "I'll… I'll try. Meeting it head-on, I mean. But I don't think I can do that anytime soon. I'm… not ready yet."

MC nodded. "If there aren't any emergencies within it, then you can definitely take your time. But… know that even that is at risk. Your time is limited, after all. Even as someone with a time-based Stand, this is a big point to remember."

"Yeah, I know. … Wait, you have a time-based Stand?!"

MC smirked. "Yep. Didn't you know?"

"Okay, you've got to tell me about that."


Stand User: Kiyoshi Nakajima

Stand Name: Silence (by Marshmello)

Ability: It can turn any known concept into a secret. Those that already know of it will not forget it, but it will remove everyone's ability to learn of it. As such, this 'secret' cannot be communicated, no matter how hard you try. Any attempt to share the secret will result in the recipient registering something they expect only.

Power: NA

Speed: A

Range: A

Precision: B

Durability: E

Development Potential: D


A/N: This chapter was originally going to be the continuation of the 2-E battles, but after some careful consideration, I decided to omit the whole thing. Sure, watching Hanako and Hoshi (maybe even Reina, but then Issei would stand no chance) fight against Issei would have been fun, but it would have just been me vomiting the fight onto a page. It's fundamentally useless. I don't want to repeat the same mistakes I made in MCBA, so I decided to stop this whole Stand introduction thing and just proceed with the story. I'll be revealing the Stands throughout the story instead, kind of like Golden Wind. Only thing is, since there are 17 other students in 2-E, I'll need to share several at the same time.

I know that this is getting messy too. I wrote that center part of the chapter, so I understand how difficult it is to outline every character in this chapter. A part of me wants to learn how to make AI art so that I can recreate these OCs appearances; let me know if you'd be interested in that. Stands, I imagine, will be harder to recreate with AI, but I'll give it a shot. I'll only do it if I get enough people asking me to do it, though.

On the plus side, I've finally completed the list of students for 2-E and their Stands! Let me tell you, it was not easy. At some point I resorted to thinking up of Stands I wanted to incorporate, coming up with names for the Stands, listening to the source material of the name and coming up with a personality and human name based on it. Finding so many Stand abilities was what gave me so much trouble, but I'm glad to say that I've come up with a fairly good list. I can't wait to show my characters off.

But the job isn't done. I've yet to come up with the Stands and identities of the other parties involved in this arc. I'm thinking that those are enough for me to think up of in the last minute, because I still don't understand how I'll structure the final showdown. This may be my unmaking, though.

I can't stress how excited I am for this arc. The final enemy Stand is pretty bone-chilling, not gonna lie. But that's all I will say of it, you can wait for the chapters to come out instead.

Review!


Legoman3377: Well, to each their own. I prefer the fanon version because one: it paints Rias in a much more normal light considering her desperation and two: it's much more believable than the canon version. You can't tell me that Koneko tracked Raynare tricking Issei into dating her and Rias chose not to let her Peerage watch over him as well. All they gave him was the flier, why couldn't they set someone to tail him instead? In the end, if you think about it, it's the fanon version that makes more sense. This also goes back to why I hate DxD, but that's not something I'll go into again.


Anyway, that's all for now. I've got some good chapters coming up, but I need to put out one more chapter of Re:Teyvat before that. I'll see you next chapter!