School.
A place of knowledge, and learning, what is supposed to be a land of wonder and opportunity.
Unfortunately for many, school is a cesspit of anxiety, tears, and disappointment.
Now, Japanese schools might be better than American ones, but let me remind you that while Kuraima's heritage may be that of Japanese descent, his mind was an American to the core! God bless the United States of America!
Except for the education system.
Fuck the American education system for the reasons stated in my poetic tangent about schools.
Even now, Kuraima felt extremely tired.
Yet, he has gotten a good night's rest, so while he was tired, he was in a paradoxical state of being highly alert yet exhausted.
Truth be told, it was agonizing.
He was tired because he'd had his entire weekend of personal time taken away from him by that worm thot. And let it be known that Kuraima practically worshipped the idea of having the spare time where he had nothing to worry about! He'd barely managed to get his homework done after getting out of the hospital yesterday.
Though, something also bothered him.
For some odd reason, though, there was a distinct lack of attention. Now, mind you, that was a good thing; Kuraima was very awkward in the face of attention.
Nobody came by to ask if he was okay. Hell, there wasn't any talk about a student being attacked and hospitalized in the first place!
If it'd been covered up as him being attacked by a wild animal, sure, that'd make sense, supernatural beings are very secretive, after all.
Nope. Not a word! Zero. Zilch. Whatever words that shorten the phrase "literally nothing" that come to mind, that's what would be used to describe the amount of concern shown for him.
Okay, so maybe he was a bit of an attention-seeker. But still.
Seems like today was just not his day.
However, his day brightened up when he saw the infamous Perverted Trio™ getting chased around by the girls of the Kendo club.
Yes, those three were a true enigma. There was absolute ALL the reasons to expel them. Yet in the months they had been here, they continued to remain enrolled.
Knowing them, they probably blackmailed someone…though if their peeping skills meant anything, they most likely couldn't pull off such a thing.
Then again, this school was the furthest thing from a normal school, so who was he to apply logic to Kuoh Academy?
...Huh? Come to think of it, he only saw two of the trio running away from the girls.
"Ooooi! Kuraima-san!"
He was brought out of his mental musings by the sound of the said third member; Issei Hyoudou.
Issei was...something, to say the least. This kid had once proclaimed word for word that he would become the Harem King. Trademark pending.
To this day, Kuraima wasn't sure whether or not to record this guy's antics and post it to a cringe subreddit.
Like, seriously! All this guy goes on and on about is boobs!
'I mean, he's not wrong.' The student thought to himself. 'Boobs are nice, but PLEASE just shut up!'
"Dude! Please tell me you remember Yuuma!"
What?
Of course, who could forget about this "Yuuma?" Just last week, Issei was bragging about how he finally got something that the third-year chalked up to as "big tiddy GF."
Was she goth? He couldn't remember. Couldn't be bothered to, either.
"We get it, Hyoudou-san!" Kuraima half-snapped at him. "Yes, the entire school knows, and frankly, I don't care—"
He was interrupted. "Ahah! So you do remember!"
Kuraima stared at him. A good, long, incredulous stare of disbelief and utter confusion. His social anxiety began to flare up, but he shoved it aside.
"Bro, are you high?" Hyoudou looked at him, unfamiliar with the Western terms "bro" and "high", before shrugging it off.
"No! I'm dead serious! Literally, nobody remembers Yuuma but you and me!"
"...wut?"
The Astral student needed a moment to reboot his brain while doing his best to kindly leave this degenerate presence.
He didn't know how he managed to do it, but somehow he managed to distract Issei long enough to escape.
"Blah blah blah boobers blah blah blah…"
Kuraima pointed over the pervert's shoulder.
"Issei! Look! It's Akeno!"
Predictably enough, Issei spun around, only to see a distinct lack of said fellow student.
"You liar! What're you—" He turned to see Kuraima legging it down the school's front yard.
'You fool! You fell for the classic blunder!'
Meanwhile, the two's interactions were being watched. Perhaps if Kuraima pointed in the other direction, he'd actually pointed towards this aforementioned "Akeno."
Akeno Himejima, along with another student known as Rias Gremory, were known as the Two Great Ladies of Kuoh for their absolute superhuman beauty.
The two were currently watching from a window on the second floor of the rundown building to the school's side. Officially, the story behind it was that the old building had too much sentimental value to be demolished and that the school budget didn't have room to fully renovate a building that they didn't really intend to use.
The two girls played a game of chess as they discussed varying topics.
"That Hyoudou…" the redhead, Rias, began as she moved one of her side's pieces. "Glad to see that he's still as lively as ever."
"Ara~ Ara~" The long-haired beauty, Akeno, giggled in a seductive tone, glancing over at the pervert in the school's front yard. Issei looked dumbly in Kuraima's direction before coming to a realization and running off after him. "It's a bit endearing~!"
"Though, something seems to be off about Kuraima-san…" A pawn was moved forward.
"Ooh, you've felt it too?"
The two were quite well aware of Kuraima. He was an American transfer student, here to live a few years in his parents' ancestral homeland.
"Sensou Kuraima, age 17. Comes from a long line of fairly strong mages, branching out from a bastard child of the leader's clan back in the late Feudal era. His magic supply is above average, if he put in some effort, he might be able to match a low-ranking Devil." A rook was moved. "However, his family did not inherit any documents of magical nature, as such, not even his grandparents are aware of their magic potential."
"Ohoho, you sure do know a lot about him~! Sizing him up for your peerage?" The buxom black-haired woman asked, moving one of her knight pieces.
"I did consider it. However, the art of magic can be mathematically intensive, and according to his reports, he just barely passed high-school math in the last few semesters. In addition to this, he's been diagnosed with ADHD amongst other mild mental disorders."
"Such a shame." Akeno cooed.
"But now, he suddenly returns after being attacked by an unknown assailant over the weekend and remembers Issei talking about Yuuma? Not to mention, that he seems to have awoken what potentially might be a Sacred Gear. A little odd, don't you think?"
The queen piece was moved.
"Very much so, buchou~! It seems like these birds weren't completely thorough in covering their tracks!"
"Come to think of it, this Nyke person...he too had the magic signature of a Sacred Gear...you don't suppose they're connected, are they?"
"Who knows~?"
Unfortunately, Kuraima just couldn't escape the presence of the infamous serial pervert. To add insult to injury, his current powerset did not include the ability to cancel out the brunette's ramblings.
"For the love of Ast— God, Issei, shut up." He grumbled, not noticing Issei flinch when he said the G-word. "You're not getting a harem! That's not how the world works! It's not even worth the effort!"
To Issei, what his classmate said was Warhammer 40K levels of pure heresy!
"Oh yeah?"
Kuraima wasn't sure how they got from the subject Yuuma to the practicality and ethics of harems. But here they were.
"Yeah."
"Then prove it!"
The fight was on. Kuraima was known for being a quiet and well-behaved kid since he didn't have that many friends.
So when he challenged Issei, the people around the two started listening in.
Normally, Kuraima's ADHD would make him babble some dumb irrelevant shit, but luckily, he'd prepared for this scenario through many accumulated hours of shower thoughts and Discord conversations.
"First of all, what're the chances that you'll find someone open to the idea of being in a harem?"
That shut Issei up, but the Astral kid wasn't done just yet, not by a long shot.
"Secondly, imagine how expensive it would be! You don't even have a part-time job. Let's face it. You've got like, what, marriage expenses, bribes for the authorities so that they'll actually register your marriages, renovations…"
As Kuraima was listing off things Issei would have to pay for, he was interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat.
"Ahem ...ah, did I come in at a bad time?"
Everyone had been so caught up in the third-year's rant that nobody had even noticed that the most popular male student of this school had entered the room.
Kuraima subconsciously put his hands over his ears, bracing himself as shrill shrieks of rabid fangirls pierced the air around him.
"Oh my god, it's our Prince of Kuoh™!"
"Aaaaaaaaah oh my god, he's so hot!"
"Kyaaaaaaaaah have my babies!"
'I wanna go home, away from this anime bullshit. Why the hell did mom and dad pick this school? Everyone here acts like a stereotypical anime character. Seriously, the next school over is literally a normal-ass school. This is a weaboo's wet dream and I fucking hate it.'
…
'Wait, shit. Am I the main character type?' He began mentally listing the common main character tropes for anime and manga school settings, the existential dread from before settling back in, sloshing through his mind like a tidal wave.
'Foreigner exchange student? Well, from a nationality standpoint...check.'
'Received a power from a long-dead entity from another world? Check.'
'Befriended the weird kid? Check, apparently.'
'About to be requested by one of the most popular kids in school? Nah, I'm—'
"Hyoudou-san and Kuraima-san, could I ask the two of you to please come with me?"
'GOD FUCKING DAMNIT.'
…
'Check.'
He looked over at Issei. "This isn't over, you hear me?"
Kuraima did his best to tune out the screams of the blonde kid's fangirls as they all started being verbal about their fantasies of the beloved Prince of Kuoh™; Yuuto Kiba.
He'd often crossed paths with the fellow third-year during his time here but seldom interacted with one another save for the occasional greeting when they passed by each other in the hallway.
Which, by some miracle, had not caused rumors about the two, which was a greater display of self-control than the RWBY fandom could ever hope to achieve when it comes to shipping.
"Hey, Kiba-san?"
"Hm?"
"How do you put up with your…fangirls?"
Kiba shrugged. "You get used to it. I lost count after the 37th request to 'have my babies', as they say."
Kuraima snrk'd in amusement. Meanwhile, Issei, on the other hand, looked tense. The Perverted Trio, as well as the less...savory boys, which unfortunately made up a large portion of the male population, held great disdain for the "handsome" pretty-boys such as Kiba.
"So, uh, why do you need us, anyway?" Kuraima asked. "Ah, well, Rias-senpai requested to see the two of you."
Kuraima did a double-take.
"You mean…The Rias? Like, Great Lady of Kuoh Rias?" He asked.
Kiba smirked. "The one and only."
Issei visibly perked up after that, without a doubt forgetting his contempt for Kiba and now thinking lecherous thoughts.
Who could blame him? Kuraima had to admit; Rias was kind of hot.
Turns out, Rias wanted to see them inside of the somewhat shady building that had yet to be demolished.
To his surprise, it was actually decently maintained on the inside, save for the low number of lighting fixtures and...that one odd-looking door covered in that black and yellow DO NOT ENTER tape.
He was rather tempted to use his wallhacks to peek inside...but then the realization that this power needed a name overpowered his curiosity.
His brainstorming was interrupted when the trio finally came upon a room that surprisingly looked somewhat luxurious, with a couple of big red velvet couches.
"Okay, this is actually pretty nice." The Astral student commented, taking a seat. Already, he felt relaxed from just sitting on the cushions.
"I see you've already made yourself at home, Kuraima-san." Kiba chuckled. "Akeno-san's making some tea, and Rias-sama will be out here to meet you shortly."
He nodded in acknowledgment and decided to think about things.
'So, why are we here anyway?' He thought to himself. 'Issei did talk about the whole Yuuma thing, so that's why he's here…so why am…'
Wait a minute.
'...is that the sound of running water?'
He listened for a bit before realizing that there was, in fact, a functioning shower inside of the ORC building.
The student turned to the short white-haired girl that he'd somehow failed to notice when he'd entered the room, who had a huge bowl of various candies in her lap.
Ah, Koneko. Another one of the more popular students, known for downright adorable if quiet. Also popular among the pedo— lolicons in the school's roster.
"Is that what I think that is?"
"Yes." She deadpanned.
Once again, the temptation to use his…
...his…
…Hmmmm, Kuraima still needed a name for his wallhack…
'Ooh, Third Eye sounds nice..'
"K-Kuraima-san! Your eyes are glowing! And...where'd that necklace come from?"
"Huh?" The student looked up to see that the others were enveloped in a green aura and completely visible to him in spite of whatever furniture was in the way.
Then it happened. He saw the naked, voluptuous water-soaked body of Rias Gremory.
"SHIT." He exclaimed, closing his eyes.
Nope, still there.
"Kuraima-san! Please calm down!"
A few moments later, Kuraima managed to calm down thanks to Kiba and Issei's efforts.
"What happened there, Kuraima-san?" The Prince of Kuoh asked concernedly.
"I...doubt you'd believe me."
"Oh? Is that a challenge?" A new voice said.
Kuriama looked up to see the reason for his panic standing there fully clothed.
Even in the school uniform, Kuraima found her plenty attractive.
"M-My apologies, Gremory-senpai…" He bowed forward a little, attempting to put his knowledge of Japanese culture to use.
Rias giggled. "No need for formalities nor apologies, Kuraima. As for whatever you have to tell us, well…I'd like to clear up a few things for the both of you." She said, referring to both Kuraima and Issei. "First of all, we're not exactly human ourselves."
With a collective series of fwips, the ORC members suddenly revealed batlike wings on their backs.
For some odd reason, a pair appeared on Issei too, which startled the poor kid.
"...Oh."
"Ara~ You don't seem that surprised, Kuraima-san~" The voice of Akeno cooed.
"A-Ah...well…I am...I just...I think it's the shock, y' know? I've had a rough weekend."
The Astral champion didn't like the way she reacted when he said "rough".
Rias then went into an exposition lore dump, however, Kuraima kinda zoned out, wondering what would happen if Diavolo from Jojo Part 5 fought against Coil from Worm and they both used their time-bending abilities at the same time.
What details Kuraima picked up on was that the Christian side of the supernatural world was composed of three factions; Angels, Fallen Angels, and Devils.
The three got along as well as you'd expect. There was a "Great War" that killed over most of the 72 High-Class Devil families, and eventually, they agreed upon a shaky ceasefire.
Oh yeah, and Satan fucking died so now the Devils are governed by four of the most powerful, who has been dubbed as the Satans.
Since Devils have absurdly low contraception rates (Something which bugged Kuraima for a bit. They have magic, y' know.) one of the four Satans (The original died in the war) came up with a solution: the Devil Piece system.
High-Class devils and above could form a peerage using these pieces, to reincarnate people as devils and increase their numbers.
So, what had happened was that Issei had straight-up fucking died and Rias had reincarnated him.
Issei wasn't fully on board with it until Rias told him that he could rank up to a High-Class and get himself a peerage. To rank up, one had to either be summoned by humans and complete their requests (They stopped accepting souls a long time ago) or to fight in gladiatorial combat, in what was known as a Rating Game.
Kuraima didn't know whether to respect or be disgusted by pervert's dedication to privacy invasion.
Also, Issei had one of those Sacred Gears, and since his GF-revealed-to-be-Fallen Angel had killed him because of it, the pervert had a fucking high tier weapon.
Unfortunately, when he tried to activate it by imitating Goku from Dragon Ball, it appeared to be a measly "Twice Critical", whatever that means.
"Anyways, with all that cleared up…" she turned to Kuraima. "So what was the deal you had just a moment ago?"
"Oh…well...you see," He began, fiddling with the large medallion. "I kinda have one of those Sacred Gears myself. A really rare one, too."
The buxom redhead raised an eyebrow, up to the challenge. "Really? What makes you say that?"
"I'm the one who still needs to name it."
…
"Wow...that is pretty rare." Kiba offhandedly commented.
"Interesting. And that freakout…?"
"Yeah, that was me giving one of the abilities a name and accidentally triggering it."
"What did it do?"
The third-year's face blanched. "I'm gonna be real with you.."
"...It lets me see people, valuables, and even some types of traps through walls."
The gears turned in Issei's head.
"YOU SAW RIAS NAKED TOO?"
Kuraim buried his hands in his face and desperately craved the sweet release of death. 'Fuck my autistic ass' He thought to himself.
Even worse, the red Devil seemed to take it in stride. "Well, I forgive you. Everybody makes mistakes. Though there is something else I'd like to know. You see, up until you came into school this morning, we had confirmed that you lacked a Sacred Gear. So how on earth did you suddenly get one?"
Kuraima thought for a moment. Then, he explained how he'd met the unassuming old man and helped him out after accidentally bumping into him. He told her about the dream encounter with Astrum Deus, the giant space worm.
"So through chance, you've been selected as this planet's 'Champion' of a god from another world."
Said champion shrugged. "Yeah. Told me that I can supposedly evolve this thing as I see fit. Also, whenever I develop a new power, the voice of David Attenborough gives me a summary. I've got two powers at the moment; the aforementioned wall-vision I've dubbed [Third eye], and this thing called [Blessing]. Think like Reinforcement from the Fate series. That's how the voice described it."
Rias was busy writing this down, using a notepad she'd gotten from...somewhere.
"You said you haven't named the gear itself yet. Shall we do that right here and now?"
'Hmm…Astrum Deus said that his name meant "The Star God" in Latin. I hope he's right because that's not what Google Translate told me…'
"I don't know why...but...something tells me to go with…
…[Stella Dominus.]"
…
…
…
Everyone just stared at him.
"I honestly have no idea where that came from. I don't even know Latin."
"I...I see. It's not a bad name, though."
Sometime later, Rias watched Kuraima leave the school grounds, viewing him through the clubhouse window before turning to pull some papers out of a nearby cabinet.
She'd have to file the paperwork to get him registered to the ORC, even though he'd awkwardly rejected her request to join the peerage, citing that he wasn't sure if he wanted to "Reject his humanity."
She got that reference.
However, the young devil would have to keep an eye out. New types of Sacred Gears have been appearing recently, which is very concerning as the last time a new Sacred Gear was discovered, disregarding subspecies, was several decades ago.
Hopefully, the presence of not one but two devils directly related to the four Satans would keep others from trying anything sketchy in her territory.
Kuraima entered his house and immediately flopped onto his couch
Home sweet home.
He rolled over, holding Stella Dominus into the air once more to inspect it.
"So it's me and you, huh?"
…
"It would be nice if you could talk back."
No response.
"Eh, it was worth a shot." He muttered, activating [Third Eye] for no particular reason.
…
…
…
"Huh. There sure are a lot of crows out here today."
Kuraima's current abilities:
Stella Dominus - This otherworldly fragment of Astrum Deus has awoken within the grasp of Kuraima Sensou. The more he uses it, the more it will evolve according to his desires.
[Third Eye] - Allows Kuraima to see living entities both friendly and otherwise, traps, and objects with high monetary value through walls or other physical obstructions. Current maximum range is about 5 meters (Roughly 16 ft)
[Blessing] - Allows Kuraima to "bless" objects, improving their overall quality. As of now, he can bless small, simple objects such as knives and increase their capabilities by 10%.