I'm still standing better than I ever did ~
Looking like a true survivor, feeling like a little kid ~
Well, as the blatantly copyright-infringing lyrics imply, I'm still around and down for stuff! Some personal issues had me slow a bit, but I managed to find myself a bit of time, so... Here we are!
Also, before I forget, a friend of mine advised me to see if I could try to 'monetize my talent', and he convinced me to open a Pat reon. You can find my at Pat reon -dot- com -slash- FrancoGamerxz . You are not obligated to either donate, nor to check out my at all, but if you feel like it... Why not?
With that out of the way, Onwards to the story!
-x-
"Let me get a piece of you, you sexy, sexy thing!"
Mewls could be heard through the walls, matched by the sound of rustling clothes, before the voices restarted.
"Let me get a piece of that fine ass~"
"No, dear" Papa Hyoudou's voice drifted through the walls, sounding to the red-eyed Issei's senses as if they were spoken just 5 feet from him at regular volume "I'm tired from work. The boss has an eye on me for a promotion, so I need to put in the effort and get the results to show him I'm serious. That means that I'll be tired more often."
"But honey, you've been working yourself to the bone for two weeks straight!"
"And I'll work myself for as many more are needed if it means you and Issei get to live happy, comfortable lives!"
"Dear~" Mama Hyoudou's voice came out as a purr "Speaking like that doesn't help your case much~"
Papa Hyoudou gulped loudly, before Mama Hyoudou pulled her hands away from his crown jewels, placing them on his shoulders and digging deeply into his knots, causing him to release a deep groan of relaxation.
"Since you're working yourself so hard, I'll make an effort as well and let you recover your strength for today! Plus, you better prepare for a high protein breakfast to get your body and mind running at peak efficiency! Now lay down on your stomach and let me work my magic."
Even more relaxed groans could be heard from their room, before Papa Hyoudou spoke up.
"How are you so good at this?"
"You remember Shokkiko?"
"The taylor one?"
"Yes, exactly! We were college roommates, and... Well... We were very close. I've been thinking about asking you if you didn't want to invite her over, to do some stuff together?"
"That would *Yawn* be great, honey. I'll *Yawn* think about it." Papa Hyoudou's words were followed up on by deep snoring.
Mama Hyoudou smiled at her hard-working husband, pulling the covers over him and pecking him on the lips, before she snuggled up to him and allowed herself to go to sleep as well, her breathing lightening in mere minutes.
Issei, from his spot in bed, all but sang praises to all of the gods whose names he knew.
Two weeks!
Two weeks had passed since he touched down on Kuoh. Two weeks had passed since he started his first year in highschool. Two weeks had passed since Issei last had more than 2 hours of sleep in a row.
Those two weeks were spent in a state of constant half-consciousness during the entirety of his day, mainly at school, with the majority of the students avoiding him for a myriad of reasons, and only a few of them being related to the fact that he was an absolute pervert.
He had a memory of himself growling at someone one time or another, though he didn't really know who or why. He did trust himself not to do things for no reason, so the person he growled at was likely asking for it.
For the entirety of these two weeks, the only solid company he had were his two friends Motohama and Matsuda and, surprisingly, a girl, Kiryu Aika. Motohama and Matsuda were being their regular selves, getting Issei to discuss their favorite subject whenever he was actually awake, while Aika seemed content on just standing back, watching him with a gaze that was half-bemused and half-hungry, all the while she wrote down notes on a small pad of paper that she had taken to carry on her person, perverted giggles escaping from her.
Other than that, Issei had very little contact with the student body, though he did feel more than a few people gazing intently at him, rather unlike in middle school during which they made a concerted effort to pretend that he didn't exist, like they did Motohama and Matsuda.
This may just be a result of his clothing style, however. Issei had neglected to tell his parents about the fact that his clothes weren't a proper fit, due to a combination of tiredness and purposeful avoidance, so he couldn't really dress 'properly', but even if he could, he likely wouldn't.
He tried putting his blazer - which fit him properly - on, and to tie his tie properly, yet it felt somewhat constricting, and very uncomfortable to him, so he decided to stick with what worked, and ended up inadvertently solidifying his place as a delinquent amongst the denizens of Kuoh Academy.
But still, sleep! Beautiful sleep, for an amount higher than just 2 consecutive hours! And it came at a time most blessed, after all...
-x-
"IT'S THE KUOH ACADEMY HIGH SCHOOL DIVISION CLUB RECRUITMENT DAY!"
Dozens of students jumped in fright at the sudden shout from the perverted trio, and the uncannily cheerful Hyoudou Issei, whose unnatural happiness and cheer put everyone more on edge than any growl or flat-eyed stare that he had previously given anyone else.
Rolling her eyes, Aika spoke up.
"It's just the club recruitment day, I can't see why you guys are so excited. I witnessed quite a few during the Middle School days, and they were always boring as hell."
Crossing his arms over his chest, Issei tutted even as Motohama and Matsuda, copying his pose behind him, shook their heads.
"Oh, Aika. Sweet, Naive Aika, girl which my Issei-senses tell me is kinky as all hell Aika, you simply do not understand the greatness and the significance behind this specific day of they year. It shall behoove me, in my incredible wisdom, benevolence and generosity, to educate you in the significance behind this, most holy of school days."
Pulling a notepad and pencil, Aika nodded towards the perverted sages as an indication of her focus on them, prompting Issei to speak up again.
"First, I would like someone to tell me what club recruitment is!"
Motohama, adjusting his glasses, spoke up.
"Club recruitment day is the day during which all of the school's clubs set up a recruitment stand in order to draw students in, as more students enroled means a better club, a higher budget, and a higher probability of someone becoming skilled enough to compete at various different levels, from intercollegiate, to regional, to national and, if you're good enough, all the way to world class. These increased numbers also allow the senpai of the club to ensure that their replacements have been properly trained by having them be tutored by the second years and the more advanced club members!"
"Exactly correct, my friend!" Issei's voice rang out, the entire spectacle attracting the attention of quite a few people around them, all the while Aika wrote down what was being said. Nodding to himself, Issei spoke up.
"Now, can anyone try to guess as to why club recruitment day is such a big deal?"
Seeing that no one was volunteering to answer, Issei turned towards Matsuda, ignoring the glint of sunlight reflected off of his shiny head, before he spoke again.
"Matsuda, as a former sportsman, please tell me what a club recruitment day tends to consist of!"
The bald-headed pervert saluted Issei in a military fashion before turning to face Aika and speaking up.
"Club Recruitment day consists of introductions to club members, an abbreviated summary of the club, it's goals and any expectations, and a practical demonstration of their activities!"
Issei nodded sagely at that response as well, before speaking up again.
"Do you understand, now?"
Aika rubbed her chin lightly, before shrugging.
"No idea at all."
Letting out a put-upon sigh, Issei spoke again.
"Aika, you must remember that club demonstrations are practical affairs. Now, think about which academy we study at." Not giving the students around him the time to actually do so, Issei cut off any possible responses "We study at Kuoh academy, an academy that has an 8 to 2 female to male ratio, a ratio which only applies started this year since males only applied this year. This means that every single club demonstration will be performed by our fairer-gendered classmates. All clubs, from track and field, to tennis, all the way to swimming, will have to put up a demonstration!"
Tears of exhultation poured from the faces of the three perverts as they shouted out in tandem.
"SPORTY GIRLS WEARING BLOOMERS AND TIGHT SHIRTS ADVERTISING FOR US TO JOIN THEIR CLUBS!"
Aika's eyes widened as she finally gained the revelation, while the other students around the four of them shot the three perverts looks of disgust, and Aika looks of confusion and/or pity.
Issei, Motohama and Matsuda, used to this sort of treatment, simply shrugged the looks off like water off of a duck's feathers, as Issei spoke further.
"We shall be given explicit permission to witness these beaufitul young maidens performing physically extrenuous activities which will result in them panting and huffing, their chests heaving heavily within the tight constraints of their uniforms, rivulets of sweat highliting the soft curves and sharp angles of their bodies, their soft lips attaching themselves to the opening of a water bottle as they work on cooling themselves down..."
Issei, Motohama and Matsuda were all releasing streams of happy tears, their fists clenched in determination.
"Now, do you understand the significance of this, holiest of school days?"
Aika had started writing furiously on her pad, so fast that one might expect smoke to trail up from it, her cheeks and face stained with a slight shade of red, even as her mouth, twisted into a lascivious grin, released a series of perverted giggles.
The people watching the scene forcefully tore their attention away from it, trying to suppress the conflicting feelings that Issei's words had caused to appear within them.
His charisma really was a dangerous thing.
The three perverted sages returned to a normal demeanor, the extra excitment vanishing altogether at a jarring speed that would have a regular person experiencing emotional whiplash, before Issei wrapped one of his arms around Aika's shoulders in a friendly gesture.
"Now, onwards to the festivities!"
Motohama and Matsuda raised their fists up in the air with a cry of "YEAH!", before the four of them made their way through the school grounds, Issei directing the still writing Aika.
'This is just such good material! But what should I title it?...'
-x-
"Join us here at the Kuoh Academy Swimming Team! Our teaching methods have led to the emergence of 4 national level athletes in the last 7 years, with 3 of the four recieving gold medals in their particular fields! If you wish to make a living out of swimming, then it's us that you need to check out!"
The speaker was a 3rd year student clad in a sukumizu, the ever popular blue one-piece swimsuit adopted by pretty much every educational facility in Japan that provided lessons related to swimming and pools. Most couldn't really take the time to analyze her face, since her swimsuit-clad body sported a pair of bouncing c-cup breasts that fully magnetized his head, as well as it did to various other students around him, the males moreso than the females.
She was Kazuki Juri, a brunette of average height with a cute, rounded face and body that, breasts aside, trimmed and slender, the captain of the swim team and a girl who had no compunctions in making use of her natural assets in order to further the goals of the club that had made her a good enough swimmer to place silver in regionals. While many would feel that it was embarassing, demeaning or dirty to make use of her gifts and beauty to lure more individuals to her club, she had no such thoughts.
She was of the mentality that 'if you have it, use it', and as long as certain lines were not crossed, than pretty much everything was fair game. And if someone said that it was unfair, or tried calling her any names over it?
Well, she was sure that the legions of new members in her club would be more than willing to console her.
She turned 180 degrees on top of the stand she was on, gifting the individuals on the other side with the privileged view of her front that they had been denied for a while, her arm up high and waving in a manner that caused her assets to bounce hypnotically, before she caught sight of a particular group of individuals.
One of them she had previous knowledge of, a certain Kiryu Aika, and her very particular, yet unerringly accurate, 'skill', but she knew nothing of the three boys other than rumors, word of mouth, and the little speech at the start of the school year, seen as she was a third year student, and the boys were just firsties.
Still, she had to acknowledge the fact that the delinquent one, Hyoudou Issei, had the body of an adonis , with the exception of down there, where he defied the classical greek standard of perfection (according to Kiryu at least, but Kiryu was trustworthy in these sorts of matters). Plus, seeing him cheerfully smiling and joking around with his friends rather than sporting a semi-apathetic glare showed the fact that his face was actually pretty cute, in a boyish manner.
A lightbult all but showed up above her head as a sudden idea came to her. She thrust her arm forward in a move that caused her breasts to bounce forward, her index finger outrstretched and pointing towards the group of four.
The rest of the students parted around said finger like the red sea, causing a corridor to sping up between the now static and very much surprised group of four, and the one that called out.
Issei silently pointed towards himself, prompting the girl to nod as she spoke.
"Yes, you! How would you like to participate in a demonstration with the swimming club!?"
Juri didn't give Issei the time to think things over or to refuse, hopping down from her raised platform and moving towards him, taking hold of his arm and pulling him towards the locker rooms.
The brunette, his eyebrows raised in bemusement, spoke up.
"I don't even have a swimsuit on my person."
"You don't need to sweat the small stuff like that! As one of the country's premier athletic groups as far as swimming goes, we have an extensive list of resources available to our club and it's members! Just go in and change!"
-x-
10 minutes had passed since Issei had first entered the locker rooms, prompting Juri to knock on the door before calling out.
"Hyoudou-san, is everything alright?"
Issei's muffled voice came from behind the steel door.
"Well, yeah, but... Are you sure that there's no mistake here?"
"Not at all, Hyoudou-san! Every condition for a propicious demonstration has already been arranged for, and all we're missing is you!"
"...Okay..." he spoke in a dubious tone "I guess I'll just have to trust your word."
With that being said, Issei stepped out of the locker room, causing almost the entirety of the academy to grind to a halt.
Issei Hyoudou, a young man with an Adonis-like build, crafted from a mixture of intense training and life and death battles, all in a magical environment, and known to be naturally gifted in a certain manner that could certainly justify any questions about possible shared ancestry with equine creatures, revealed himself to the large crowd that had amassed around the swimming club's display, curious over an unplanned practical demonstration...
Clad only in a red speedo.
A breeze blew through the violently silent - and this was likely the only occasion in which silence could be described as violent - courtyard, carryind a small tumbleweed that was just unexplainably there, before anyone could regain their balance.
Smacking her suddenly dry lips, Juri managed to recover enough of her cognitive functions to speak into a microphone that was connected to a pair of loudspeakers - Kuoh A/V staff was extremely efficient - that were set up around a table that bore a load of swim club pamphlets and registration forms, her wide eyes glued to the first year's... well... Everything.
"W-well, as we can see, Hyoudou-san is in the appropriate dress for any sort of competitive swimming sport. Pros do not wear swimming shorts or trunks as most would wear to the beach, but wear a speedo instead, in order to minimize the hydrodynamic drag and ensure that they are achieving optimal speeds. It is also for this same reason that swimming caps are utilized. U-unfortunately, we seem to have come into a shortage of caps, so Hyoudou-san's demonstration shall be done as is."
No one really noticed Juri kicking a red swimming cap under the table, before she spoke up again, her tone more steady as she recovered her composture.
"Now, the first thing one must do before entering the pool is hitting the showers, to minimize the chances of impurities or polutants to get into the pool. Hyoudou-san, if you'd please..."
The brunette shrugged, turning around and walking towards the small, doorless shower stall that was just a few feet away from the pool and in full view of the people watching, causing him to miss the way that many of the girls -and, disturbingly enough for him given his orientation - a few of the boys bit their lips at the view of his taut, hard cheeks.
He turned on the shower, closing his eyes as the water splashed onto his face. The majority of the girls present had to contend with a series of intense physical sensations, both known and unknown, at the sight of rivulets of water traveling down Issei's heavily defined and well-toned back, before the brunette turned around, displaying his front to the crowd - which seemed to just keep increasing in time - and stretched.
A chorus of sighs and swoons filled the air, prompting a few conflicting feelings to emerge in the majority of the female population as far as Issei was concerned, while the male population of the school felt an almost unanimous dislike that was usually reserved for the likes of Yuuto Kiba, whose sheer existence exponentially decreased their abilities to find romantic partners in the academy.
Motohama and Matsuda streamed bitter tears at the occurence, their natural dislike of pretty boys clashing with their loyalty to their best friend, and the sheer amount of grudging respect that he managed to wrangle out of them in going from toad to prince in the time frame of a single vacation trip.
"I'm done showering, now what?"
Issei's words knocked sense back into Juri, whose composure had decided to take a small trip to china when her eyes fell on Issei's toned pectorals and shoulders, leaving the rest of her consciousness behind and muttering gibberish, allowing her to speak into the mic after clearing her throat.
"Now, Hyoudou-san is supposed to enter the pool-"
Issei dove into the pool before Juri could finish speaking, before his body broke the surface of the pool with a splash in a hollywod-worthy scene, the sun caught at the perfect angle to cast shadows in a specific manner over particular parts of his body, emphasizing his build, while he arched his back, pool water flying from his brown - with a single purple bang - hair, causing the spiky mess to soften a bit, lightly clinging to his forehead and the back of his neck, all the while more water dripped from his torso.
"-by climbing down the ladder..."
The brunette blinked owlishly at that, giving the senior a sheepish grin, his right hand scratching the back of his head boyishly as he spoke.
"Oops?"
The senior student shook herself free of the young man's influence, her mind going through the optimal way allow her club to profit off of this demonstration.
'Between the fact that our sport is performed in swimsuits and water, and my little recruitment campaign, I already expected to snag quite a large amount of male members into the swim club, but if I manage to put on a good show right now, I may get even more, since literally everyone is watching us right now! Plus, if I manage to convince Hyoudou-san to join our club, we will not only have such a physical specimen that is likely capable of high level competition, but we'll also have a bit of eye candy to lure more girls into the club, and to provide moral support for our female club members, and motivation and a goal to reach for the male members!'
Seeing a way to milk this for all it was worth, Juri spoke into the mic.
"Now, I shall be joining Hyoudou-san and we shall be reenacting what a basic swimming lesson giving to initiates ought to be like."
Before anyone else could say a thing, Juri put down the mic, hopped under the shower for 10 seconds, and then dove into the pool, repeating Issei's motions as far as the Hollywood surfacing scene goes, with an added bonus of bounce, causing the watching boys to whistle and holler at her.
They were silenced by the collective amount of female anger directed at them, while a pink-haired first year girl spoke up.
"KEEP YOURSELVES UNDER CONTROL, YOU PERVS!"
A massive and collective sweatdrop appeared behind all of the male students that had made noise, the same thought going through their minds.
'The lot of you were just drooling over Hyoudou too...'
Of course, faced with the prospect of having all of that anger aimed at them for the entirety of their stay at Kuoh, the boys wisely kept themselves quiet, unwilling to point out the sillyness - hipocrisy - of the girls' actions.
"What now, Senpai?"
Issei's voice had everyone paying attention to the pool, the brunette delinquent's(?) voice somehow being clearly conveyed clearly to everyone present, despite any distance or ambient noise issues that should occur.
Unnoticed by most, a certain Himejima Akeno wiggled her fingers as blue sparkles jumped from them, her general sound amplification spell being noticed solely by her King who could do nothing more than shake her head in exasperation.
"Now we demonstrate the basics. Tell me, Hyoudou-san, do you know how to swim?"
"Yep."
"Well, for the purpose of this exercise, we will act as if you were a complete novice."
Juri grabbed one of the foam kickboards that were poolside, handing it to Issei before positioning him in a stretched out, stomach-down position.
"Keep a tight hold on the board."
The brunette grabbed it with no complaints, before Juri waded through the waist-deep water towards him, placing one of her hands on top of his and getting him to stretch his arms forward, while her other hand was on the lower side of his torso, where some would consider to be a danger zone.
"Now, Hyoudou-san, all you need to do is kick your feet lightly."
The brunette did so, small splashes emerging from where his feet met the pool. After a few minutes of this - and of Juri's hand thoroughly exploring Issei's abs - Juri spoke again.
"Now, turn around and hug the board to your chest, Hyoudou-san."
Issei did as instructed, appreciating the cool water of the pool, before he sputtered and flailed in surprise as a pair of unfamiliar arms wrapped around his body, a pair of breasts pressing tightly into his back as Juri spoke straight into his ear in a tone that would be inaudible if not for a certain sadist's interferance.
"Don't worry, Hyoudou-kun, senpai's got you~"
The male populace glared at Issei with such intensity that it was a wonder he didn't just burst into flames, even with most of his body submerged, while the female populace imagined themselves to be in that situation, be it with Issei, or even with Juri, depending on their own tastes. Some were even contemplating an Issei/Juri sandwhich, with themselves in the middle.
Meanwhile, various other clubs started plotting. The swim club was expected to pretty much bea out all other clubs as far as male recruitment rates went, because, well... Swim club! However, that would have left the female students as the true contest, with each club trying to make up for this gender differential, and to just win in raw numbers. Normally they'd have to depend entirely on their recruitment speech, and the charisma of their speaker, how much their flyers could really influence the students and so on and so forth, but the existence of Hyoudou Issei changed all of this.
The club that managed to get Issei to sign up would likely find themselves flooded with applications from girls! With such a high amount of girls joining, boys would as well, either because they wanted to surround themselves in as many women as possible, or because they'd attempt to 'keep Hyoudou away from the girls'.
An unspoken war was declared within the grounds of Kuoh between the various clubs. The win condition?
Recruit Hyoudou Issei.
Said brunette was still enjoying the sweet embrace of his senpai, his nostrils flaring as he felt the soft pair of breasts pressing into him, small nipples hard and poking against his bare back forcing him to restrain his lustful aura, lest he cause an impromptu orgy.
"Now, Hyoudou-san,I want you to hold onto the board with only one of your arms."
Issei nodded lightly, disentangling his right arm from Juri's, which caused her to reposition herself in such a way that Issei's head slid between her breasts, which caused the brunette to let out a mild curse as he fought to keep control of Issei Jr., while Juri herself released a breathy moan, normally inaudible, but amplified under current conditions.
"N-now" Juri spoke in-between grunts "I want you to try a backstroke alongside senpai, okay, Hyoudou-kun?"
The brunette nodded, which caused Juri to moan out loud, before he stroke backwards with his right arm, rubbing the side of her breasts and forcing a whimper out of her.
"V-very good, Hyoudou-kun. N-now, Senpai wants you to change arms, hug the board with your right arm, and stroke with your left one."
The brunette followed his senpai's instructions, switching arms and stroking backwards, causing her to let out a moan that forced many a male student to change positions.
"Now, Hyoudou-kun, repeat this alternating motion in a steady rhythm."
The brunette did so, stroking backwards then switching arms, again and again, trying to ignore the myriad of sensations and sounds that his 'tutor' was making, lest he accidentally destroy what amounted to school property, if one were to catch his drift.
'Think unsexy thoughts! Dirty socks! Garbage mounds! Rancid milk! Armpit sweat!'
Juri, seemingly determined to give Issei a Hard Time, in more than one sense of the word, leaned into him and purred within his ear.
"Don't worry, Hyoudou-kun, Senpai won't let you stroke alone~"
'Ohgodohgodohgod! Hairy gorillas! Male bodybuilders! FEMALE bodybuilders! Hairless Orangutans! Girls that punctuate every sentence with 'like'! Homosexual Bear in a gimp suit trapped within BDSM dungeon!'
With those thoughts in mind Issei managed to completely curtail the expected physical reaction, lasting all the way to the end of the practical demonstration.
As soon as his senpai released him, Issei hopped over the side of the pool and into the locker room. Less than 3 minutes later and he was already fully dressed and outside the locker room, his face in as nonchalant an expression as he could make it.
Juri, having gotten back to her senses as soon as the sight of a speedo-clad Issei left her perception, decided to go forth with her recruitment campaign. She gave the brunette an inviting smile, curling a few strands of her hair around her finger as she spoke.
"So, Hyoudou-kun, what did you think of the practical demonstration?"
The brunette coughed self-consciously, banishing the ghostly sensations of a pair of breasts on his back and the breathy moans in his ear, before he responded as nonchalantly as possible.
"It was... alright."
"Will you be joining the swim club?"
Her question was asked as she leaned forward, her arms positioned so that they would lightly press her breasts together, causing them to appear bigger, while droplets of water still ran down her swimsuit.
"Y-... I'll think about it."
Juri pouted at Issei, a pout that the brunette turned away from as he walked back towards his friends, the incredibly Jealous/Proud Motohama and Matsuda, and the smugly smirking and utterly entertained Aika. Before Issei could actually leave, Juri halted him with a hand on his shoulder.
"Err... Since you haven't chosen to join the swim club, then you can't really keep swim club property, Hyoudou-kun. I'll be having your speedo."
The brunette gave a weak, chagrinned grimace as he spoke.
"Left it behind in the locker room."
Having said that, he shrugged off her hand and took hurried steps away from the entire situation, flanked by the crying Motohama and Matsuda, who alternated between cursing and congratulating him, and Aika, who snickered to herself as she scribbled on her pad.
-x-
The rest of the day was an exercise in control for the young Hyoudou. It seemed that every single club was interested in performing some interesting practical demonstrations as soon as he was within visual range.
The Tennis club girls seemed to be swinging their rackets with a particular level of intensity that caused their already criminaly short skirts to flare and flip, all the while releasing 'grunts of exertion' that were more fit for a porno than a tennis match, and that was saying something when you had the likes of Maria Sharapova making international broadcasts a trife more awkward than expected.
The Track and Field girls just so happened to decide to go through a few stretching exercises when he got close, exercises which involved loads of bending over, toe touching, and leg spreading. Add to the the way that one of them deliberately held eye contact with him as she slowly gulped down the water from her bottle, and it was easy to see how things were getting dicey.
When they walked through the Judo club exhibition, Issei's entourage was given front row seats to grappling that seemed more appropriate to a wrestling match between two victoria's secrets models in a kiddy pool full of baby oil in the playboy mansion.
While some clubs, like the chess club, and the majority of the academics clubs, couldn't really pull some such trick to try to lure him, pretty much every sports club did so, which made Issei's situation precarious.
'But Narrator-' I hear you asking '-why is Issei's situation precarious? Isn't this supposed to be a good experience for him?'
You're not wrong. This was an amazing experience for any pervert of Issei's caliber or inclinations. The reason why the situation was precarious for Issei was due to the clothes he was wearing.
We must remember that, at Issei's current strength level, he is capable of punching craters into concrete without even bruising his knuckles. Issei was built solid, and this applied to the entirety of his body, and it's parts.
All of them.
While this wouldn't be a problem were he wearing the clothes that he had taken with/bought during his trip, since he had them enchanted in Luxuria, regular clothes... Well, that was a different problem altogether.
It was embarassing enough for a normal guy to get a boner in regular, properly-fitting trousers. They'd likely have to do quite a bit of adjusting, and even then there was the possibility of things being noticed.
Now, apply this same concept, but to someone whose body is strong enough to break steel, who is wearing run-of-the-mill, non-enchanted, undersized clothing.
What for most would be mild embarassment, for Issei would be indecent exposure to the highest degree.
That is why Issei has been constantly supressing himself.
This suppression did not occur without secondary effects, however. To any normal man, being forced to suppress themselves while subjected to the myriad of situations and stimuli that Issei did would already be very difficult. Now, make all of these situations occur in a consecutive fashion, with little to no reprieve, to an individual that all but breathes sex, who also happens to have an animalistic part that was both very hedonistic and irritable in nature, and...
Well, Issei's mood was in the dumps.
Motohama and Matsuda, having noticed this, decided to skip on their antics for the day, something which Aika noticed. After a long stretch of tense silence, Aika decided to try cheering Issei out. She opened her mouth-
"OI! WHO IS THE BASTARD THAT OWNS THIS SHITTY SCHOOL?"
-Before a loud shout had her, and everyone else, turning towards the gates of the academy in surprise. The source of the voice was an absolute surprise for them.
The speaker was a young man, seemingly around the upper teen age group. He was tall and lanky, with a full head of shaggy, blonde hair, with brown roots, a brown which matched his pierced eyebrows, making it obvious that he was a bottle blonde. His eyes were brown as well, his nose was thin and pointed, and his lips were, similarly, very thin. He was clad in a white long-sleeved shirt, with a red vest over it, a pair of faded blue jeans, with rips on the knees, and a pair of grey sneakers.
He was flanked by an average-bodied young man of about the same age, whose traits were best described as remarkably average to the point of blandness. Brown hair, brown eyes, average nose, average mouth, average height and weight, and clad in a shit, jeans and sneakers, this guy was the type of person that you would have trouble noticing amongst a fair sized group of people, much less remembering him. He was just that unremarkable.
The last member of their group was a bit more remarkable than the last. He was a bit taller than bland-face, yet shorter than lanky, with a square, stocky build. He was bald, with an extremely bushy unibrow, a wide and flat nose that sported a single dermal piercing on it. His lips were thick, and his jaw was as square as his body. He was wearinga leather vest with nothing underneath, revealing his chest, stomach and arms, a pair of leather pants, and black boots.
The one in the lead, Lanky, spoke.
"I ASKED FOR THE BOSS OF THIS SHITTY SCHOOL!"
Noticing that no one seemed inclined to speak up, he decided to give some expository dialogue just for the sake of it.
"I'm Kaz, and these are my boys, Jude-" the unremarkable one nodded at that "-and Buta-" this time, the stocky one with a leather fetish nodded, before Kaz spoke again "And we're the owners of Kuoh, the Back Street Dragons!"
The three of them seemed to stand up straight at that declaration, as if their name filled them with great pride, even as Kaz continued.
"Up until a while ago Kuoh was just a wimpy all-girls academy, with no one dumb enough to try to join the game and claim ownership. Imagine my surprise when I hear from my sources that this academy suddenly got claimed as soon as it went co-ed! Some cocky fuck with more balls than brain decided to claim the school before checking if the territory was already occupied or not!"
Jude, the bland one, tried his best to give a menacing scowl, though it came out more like a grimace, while Buta managed an ugly scowl that would have a mirror begging to be put out of it's misery.
"So I want this Hyousou Jossei fuck, or whoever he is, in front of me, right now!"
As the delinquent spoke, the members of Rias and Sona's peerages that were in the high school division had started positioning themselves in a strategic manner around the crowd of people, preparing a mild area-of-effect hypnosis to allow Yuuto to take care of the three gang members with no added fanfare and without creating any extra scrutiny, but their plans were intruded upon by a certain young man.
"Dragons?"
A snort emerged from Issei's nose even as he moved to stand across from the three gang members, his hands in his pockets and his shoulders in a relaxed slouch.
"The three of you couldn't even qualify as geckos, much less dragons."
The 'Back Street Dragons' bristled collectively, Kaz taking a menacing step forward - frowning when i failed to elicit any reaction - before speaking up rudely.
"Who the fuck are you?"
Giving the faux blonde a half-lidded stare, Issei responded.
"Man, you're stupid. You called out for a 'Hyousou Jossei' - which doesn't exist, anyway - and you fail to relate the name to the only person that actually came forward to talk to your dumb ass."
His eyes widening angrily, Kaz took two strides towards Issei before grabbing him by the collar, his nostrils flaring at the sheer impassiveness of his target, before he shouted straight to his face.
"DO YOU THINK THIS IS A FUCKING GAME, HUH!? WANNA GET YOUR ASS KICKED, TOUGHT GUY?"
"Get your filthy paws off of me, Trash."
Issei's tone stunned the majority of the people present, people whose 'opinion' of Issei shifted on a dime the instant they saw some sort of use for him, causing them to all but forget the 'Delinquent' and 'Dangerous' labels that they had given to him.
Kaz, on the other hand, wasn't stunned. No, he was pissed. He let loose with a right cross aimed at Issei's face, only for the brunette to take half a step forward and smash his forehead into Kaz's nose half a second before the punch could have connected, causing the blonde delinquent to release Issei's collar and reel back in pain and surprise, a rivulet of blood going down his nostrils.
Buta, having a keen appreciation of violence, took no time to dash towards Issei and letting loose a punch with his right hand, a sloppy punch that had little form behind it. Issei dodged the punch, it's left-handed counterpart that came as a follow-up, and a sloppy front kick before he kneed the leather maniac in the gut, causing him to double over, before raising his right leg, aligning the bottom of his shoe with unibrow's face and pushing, knocking his attacker backwards and stomping on his face in a display of utter contempt.
Rather than trying to push his advantage, Issei, driven by his frustration and his draconic sense of pride and arrogance, took a few steps back, giving the delinquents the space required to regain their balance.
"I'm giving you three a second chance to come at me. Do try not to disappoint me as you have been so far."
The three gang members, angry yet weary, traded looks amongst eachother, nodding in what seemed to be agreement before dashing towards the brunette all at the same time, Kaz from the front, Jude from the right and Buta from the left, attacking with the intent of overwhelming Issei and not giving him the time to retaliate.
Rather than react as they expected and panicking or trying to move back to make space, Issei retaliated by dashing straight at Kaz, causing their eyes to widen, before Kaz had the breath literally kicked out of him, as Issei spartan-kicked him, right on the sternum.
He followed up on the knockdown by kicking Kaz in the ribs, bruising them enough that the bottle blonde would be staying out for the rest of the fight.
In a quick move, Issei was already sweeping the legs out from under Buta, causing him to fall backwards, before following through with a stomp to the face that rattled him, causing the leatherbound delinquent's sight to swim, leaving him temporarily unable to control his body.
The brunette turned his unnervingly placid look towards the last man standing of the 'gang' before speaking up.
"You want some of what your friends had as well?"
Jude shook his head so quickly that he got whiplash.
"Then pick up your Trash, leave my school, and never come back. If you do so, well... You won't enjoy the results."
The bland-faced 'henchman' helped both of his gangster friends to their feet, wrapping an arm of each over his shoulders and slowly shuffling away from the dangerous animal that toyed around with them before effortlessly destroying them.
As he watched them amble away, Issei snorted derisively, before speaking to himself.
"Dragons. Pffft, those bastards weren't worth the label of scum beneath my feet, much less Dragons."
Rias, whose hearing was much better than a regular person's, met Sona's gaze with a frown, seeing more and more familiarities between the first year student and Him. Before either her or Sona could say or do anything, however, someone else did.
"That was amazing!"
A random voice, from a random person within the crowd reached Issei. This voice turned into two, then four, then more and more as each person heaped their praise on Issei.
"Hehehe..."
The boy's sardonic chuckle stopped any further exclamations of admiration, before he spoke.
"The lot of you are no better than the trash I just tossed away."
A stunned silence filled the people present, before they all started speaking simultaneously, each of them shouting a different thing at Issei. Soon enough indignation had become outrage, and all sorts of offenses were being thrown, with things bordering on devolving into physical violence if the looks Issei was given were correctly interpreted.
Before any member of either the Student Council or the Occult Research Club could try to deescalate the situation by working their magic, literal or figurative, Issei himself spoke.
"The lot of you judged me instantly and with a single glance, during admittance. Rather than trying to get a measure of my character by actually getting to know me, you 'decided' on what my image, my identity was, and you treated me based on it. Fear and despise were what you chose to give me. Fearful looks when I was looking, but disdainful glares whenever you believed me unaware, as if I were less than trash.
All of a sudden you bastards see some sort of value or utility in me, and I turn into «the chosen one», the «exalted». Every club suddenly wants me as a member. Yet, these same people that wanted to have me join them as one of their own did absolutely jack shit when some assholes showed up with obvious violent intent.
Not before, during or after my little... Altercation... did the lot of you even move a finger to do something useful. None of you decided that it was a good idea to try to deescalate the situation before the fight occured, none of you thought that it was a good idea to help me in a 3-to-1 fight, and none of you thought to at least go out to get a teacher, or any figure of authority, to try to sort things out.
The only people who actually tried to help me were Motohama, Matsuda and Aika. The three of them tried to convince me to just avoid those bastards, but when I decided to actually step up to them, Motohama and Matsuda volunteered to help even the numbers, while Aika decided to go call a teacher to put a stop to this. They would've done it too, if I hadn't convinced them not to."
Allowing his cold, dead fish-eyed stare move through the entire crowd around him, Issei snorted at all the people that were averting their gazes from him, before he walked back towards the three people in the school he could trust, taking his bag back from them before, in a deliberate motion, turning his back on the entirety of the student body as he walked away from the school.
Motohama and Matsuda didn't hesitate to flank Issei, neither did Aika to follow after the three of them, her pencil scribbling madly at her pad.
The students of Kuoh, chagrinned after their dressing down, dispersed altogether, each of them making their way to wherever it was they went after the end of the school day, leaving behind only the members of the student council and the Occult Research Club.
Crossing her arms, Rias spoke up.
"This boy... Sure, he has the right to be annoyed, but to dress down the entirety of the student body in such a manner..."
Sona took off her glasses, wiping the lenses on her shirt and putting them back on, the angle causing the glare to hide her eyes as she spoke.
"He was justified in his actions. None of the students did, actually, provide any sort of aid, even after the entire dog and pony show that was performed in an attempt to recruit him."
"Well, he could've had a bit more humility in how he expressed himself..."
"...Rias, that's a weak argument, and you know it. No one tried to help him, no one said or did a single thing. Are you going to say different?"
"We had our peerages ready to-"
"Our peerages did nothing. Our slow action allowed things to escalate to that degree. We did nothing after Hyoudou manifested himself, before any violence actually occured, all because the two of us were too busy scrutinizing him for any wrongdoing, despite the fact that he was not the instigating party, and despite the fact that nothing he did before ever broke any rules.
We expected him to do so, we crafted an image of him such that we acted as if he had actually offended, impugned or in any way broke the rules. If anyone here has responsibility it is us, both as Senpai, and as the ones responsible for the school.
I will do my best to make ammends for Hyoudou-san, Rias. I'd advise you to do the same... But I expect you to be much too stubborn to actually listen to me."
Having said that, Sona and the rest of the student council left the scene, leaving behind only the Gremory peerage.
Biting her lower lip, Rias spoke to herself in a low tone.
"Could it be that I was too rash?... But... No... No, I can't start questioning myself now. I have more important matters to take care of at the moment."
Shaking her head, Rias walked off to the old school building, Yuuto following after her with his usual smile.
Akeno, on the other hand, was still standing in place, her mind in a faraway place, images of a certain Kouhai of hers toying with his would-be aggressors before ruthlessly taking them down as he did, before tearing a new one on the entirety of the student body with no hesitation, in a tone of voice most would use to discuss the weather.
"Hyoudou Issei... What an interesting young man..."
Were one watching the Gremory queen at that specific moment, they would feel a chill of terror at the gleam in her eye, and in the dangerous way in which she licked her lips.
"Ufufufufufu~"
-Chapter, End!-