'Life is born…and life dies.' These words echoed in Issei's mind as he stood in front of a grave stone, the sobbing of his family members echoing in the background while he felt his dad's hand resting on his shoulder as the man's other arm was wrapped around his wife.

In Loving Memory

Ichikawa Kojiro And Ichikawa Otoki

Wonderful Parents And Amazing Grandparents

He knew that his grandparents' health had been rapidly deteriorating over the past three years especially given how their souls had been growing dimmer and dimmer, but the abrupt passing of his grandpa followed by the passing of his grandma due to health complications still hit him like a truck.

He did cry when he first heard about it and the days that came after it, but after he had cried away his tears, he knew he had to grow up lest he leave everything for his dad to do.

However, he could not understand one thing that has been plaguing him ever since he heard the news of his grandparents' passing.

'Why did it have to be them? Gramps, while a bit sick, was still healthy than most and Grandma didn't have any health problems at all.' Were the gods really that cruel that they decided Issei didn't need them no more?

Were they that cruel that they wanted to bring suffering upon his family just because they could?

Then again, one could see death as being reborn onto the next path of your journey, a path that Issei was sure both his grandpa and grandma would love to take together if that meant being in each other's company for eternity.

'Death isn't the end. Like Gramps said, dancing into the arms of death is simply welcoming the next journey.'

"You okay?" Issei blinked as he heard his dad's voice, looking up to see his dad giving him a soft smile while looking around for his mom.

"Your mom went back with the family because the lawyer wanted to see them, so she wanted to give you a few moments to say goodbye."

"…Eh, I'm good."

"You…sure? You know, it's not a good idea to suppress all of your emotions because a time will come when it all overflows and you don't want that to happen."

"I know, dad, but it's really okay. Besides, a goodbye means that we'll never see each other again and I'm pretty sure gramps would get mad at me from the afterlife if I don't want to see him when I die."

"…Some times, I keep forgetting that you're smarter than what you look like."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Issei asked with a frown, grumbling as his dad chuckled while patting his head.

"Don't worry your little head about it. So, you ready to go?" He asked and Issei smiled as he nodded, taking a final glance at his grandpa's grave before giving a small wave & following his dad to their car.

"Dad?"

"Yes, son?"

"Thanks for listening."

"You're welcome, my boy."

"Is he okay?" Reina whispered to Miki as the two stood off to the side, Miki frowning as she glanced over to her son to see him looking aimlessly at the book in his lap while Irina sat next to him with a concerned look on her face.

"Honestly, I don't know. Gorou said that he's okay, but he hasn't even started reading the book in his lap, which is something I'd did not to see happen at all."

"I can say the same. There's never a time when Issei doesn't want to read a book. Perhaps, a change of scenery would be nice & help him recover? Not just him, but perhaps for you as well." Reina spoke and Miki sighed as she rubbed the glass in her grasp and shook her head.

"Even if I wanted to, we don't have the funds nor the time to do so right now, especially since Gorou's work needs him for some big presentation right now."

"Oh, I don't need to actually be there. I merely need to give some directions and that's it." Gorou spoke with a shrug as he and Toji walked towards their wives, Miki frowning before shaking her head.

"No, there's still the funds issue."

"Oh, don't worry about that. My job wants me to come back to our headquarters to deliver my annual report so I can just ask for extra tickets and that would be it."

"Don't you work for the church?" Gorou asked with a raised eyebrow and Toji smirked and nodded.

"I am. The church just likes to pay me a lot of money since I'm the overseer of the church in Kuoh."

"I…see. Do you think I could become a pastor like him?" Gorou asked his wife, smirking as she rolled her eyes while the other couple just looked amused.

"Do you think you could go celibate until I decide to give you any?"

"…No, I cannot. Anyway, looks like we'll be joining you guys for that trip, right sweetie?"

"Only if it's really no trouble." Miki said while looking towards Toji, who snorted as Reina waved her hand dismissively.

"It's of no worries at all. Now then, why don't we go tell the news to the children?"

"Uh, maybe we should tell Issei later? He doesn't like it to be surprised in public."

"I see. Well, like we said, it's all up to you."

"We're leaving on a trip?" Issei asked with a frown as he sat on his bed, Miki smiling while Gorou grinned and gave a nod.

"Yep, Touji and Reina were going to leave with Irina on a trip away and they asked if we want to go with. Your mother and I said yes, but we wanted to ask you first if you wanted to go since we know how much you hat ebeing surprised."

"That and if you don't want to, we'll just head over to Grandpa Juuzo's place and rest there for a few days." Miki added and Gorou smirked as he saw Issei grimace slightly.

"Do we have to? Last time we went there, he tried to show me boobies of other ladies again."

"…No, dear. You can't kill him…even though he would deserve it." Gorou muttered as Miki turned her gaze to him, Issei giggling as his mom grumbled before turning to him as he smiled and nodded.

"Well, going to a new place would be nice and they probably have some good books there."

"So, you want to go?" Miki asked before smiling brightly as Issei smiled and nodded, hugging her son tightly while Gorou smiled softly as he patted his son on the head.

"Glad to hear it, son. We'll get packing and tomorrow, we'll be heading over to the Shidou family to take a joint ride to the airport."

"Okay, can't wait!" Issei spoke with a smile and his parents nodded as they left his room, leaving him home.

Waiting a few more moments, Issei's smile turned soft as he stood up and walked over to the mini-bookshelf he kept in his room that was there for his most important and precious books while the others were in the mini library just a door down to the right of his room.

Drag-So-Ball: Battle Against Iced

Issei took out the manga book before reaching in behind it and pulling off a part of the wall behind it, revealing an envelope inside the wall that he carefully took out before placing the piece of wall and the manga volume back.

'To Issei, my dear boy. Open this after my funeral.' Issei didn't know why his grandpa had hid this envelope behind his manga volume since he had only noticed it being slightly off-centre a few days ago, but since the old man had probably gone through a lot to get it hidden there, it must have been important.

"No time like now, I guess." Issei muttered as he tore open the back of it, taking a deep breath to calm his nerves and shaking hands before slowly taking out the paper inside of it.

Opening it up, he was surprised to find that it was a letter, written by his grandfather as he could see from the handwriting and addressed to him.

Dear Issei

If you're reading this, I have unfortunately passed away before we could finish your training.

That or you're reading it early, so close this up if I haven't died or I swear to all the gods that you will be doing training until you pass out.

Ahem!

Now that I know you're reading it because I died, I would like to ask that you keep an open mind on what you're about to read.

Firstly, I must tell you that you…are not the biological son of my daughter Miki and her husband Gorou.

'Wait, what?!' The sheer absurdity of the sentence rocked Issei and he blinked as he read it again from the top only to frown as he realized that he did read it correctly.

I know you just read the letter again to see if you misread and no, you did not. You are not the biological child of Miki and Gorou Hyoudou.

Your parents were my eldest daughter, Risa Ichikawa, who died while birthing you, and her husband is someone whose name I cannot recall, but he was an Angel.

More specifically, the highest ranked Angel called a Seraphim.

No, I'm not joking and no, I'm doing any drugs right now. I am being completely honest as I and a select few are the only ones who remember who your mother is.

I have been trying for the past few decades to recall your father's name, but I cannot so that means your father either erased his name from my mind or he exchanged his life for yours.

The reason for that last sentence is because you were born a sick boy as I'm sure you can remember since you were stuck in the hospital for the first two years of your life and that is also when your mother introduced you to books to take your attention away from your pain.

Also, your father was indeed an angel as that is how you can not only see the souls of other beings around you but also how you can project your voice outwards as it is most likely an ability he had.

I'm sure you don't believe me and you're probably thinking this is one last joke, but to show you that I'm serious, I have placed a sealing rune at the bottom of this paper and you touch it while flowing your ki through it, you will find my three books on the final steps of your training that I wanted to give to you.

If you don't and you decide to tear this paper up or throw it away, then the rune will disappear while simultaneously erasing the knowledge inside of it forever.

To be honest, I did not wish for you to find out like this, but unfortunately, my cowardice to reveal it to you forced me to wait until I was no longer there to finally tell you.

Well, I can feel my hands growing number by the minute so I would like to write down one last thing before I can no longer do so.

Despite the fact that Miki and Gorou are not your biological parents, they are still your parents as they had lost their own son and found you so in a sense, you breathed life back into them just as they loved and cared for you just like a parent should.

You may hate me for waiting until now to tell you, but know that I will always love you no matter what, my boy.

From your Grandpa

Kojiro

Still both shocked and sad at what he read, the young boy placed a finger on the sealing rune at the bottom of the page, feeling his energy being draw out before blinking as the paper disappeared & was replaced by a trio of thin manuals that appeared in his grasp.

A droplet of liquid fell down upon the top manual before more slowly followed after it, a soft smile on Issei's face as he looked at the manuals despite the tears flowing down his face before placing the booklets against his forehead with a soft chuckle.

'Even if I do end up hating you later down the line, Gramps, thanks for everything. May you rest in peace.'

"You look…happy?" Issei smiled at Irina's words as the two of them stood outside the car, their mothers standing behind them and talking away while their dads grabbed the luggage from the rental car as they stood outside the airport.

"I do?"

"Yeah, you look like you just finished reading Drag-So-Ball all over again."

"Huh, I guess you could say that."

"Wait, did you really?" Irina asked before pouting as Issei grinned & shook his head.

"Nope, I just found out something and it did shock and hurt me for a bit, but now I'm very happy."

"You are? How does something that shocks and hurt you…make you happy? Not just happy, but very happy?" Irina asked with a confused look and Issei shrugged as he rolled on his heels with a sly smile.

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

"I would. That's why I'm asking you."

"Hmm, then I guess you'll have to keep wondering." He said with a shrug, snickering as she simply punched his arm with a huff before looking up to see his mom giving him an amused look.

"Are you doing okay, sweetie?"

"I am, Mom." Issei said with a nod, surprising Miki with his bright smile while Reina smiled softly as she held a hand on her daughter's shoulder.

"Well, I'm guessing you're excited about the trip, huh?"

"I am. It's my first time going outside of the country and it's Italy too. Doesn't Italy have some of the best libraries in the world when it comes to the mystical side of the world?"

"You believe in that kind of stuff, Issei?" Reina asked with a curious look and Issei grinned and nodded.

"Yeah, there are rare miracles happening everyday that no amount of science can't explain so I want to do some of my own research."

"…I can see what you mean by him loving knowledge." Reina said with a blink of her eyes as she looked up at Miki, who giggled whilst nodding.

"Oh, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Wait until he learns that we're going to be doing a tour of the libraries."

"Mom, have I ever told you how much I love you?" Issei spoke with a happy smile as he hugged his mom, to which the woman giggled and shook her head.

"No, but I wouldn't mind you telling me more."

"Well, you are the best mom any kid could ask for." Issei said with a broad smile and as he saw his mother giggling at his words, he nodded as he turned and hugged her waist as tight as he could.

Yeah, to hell with the fact that they're not his blood-related parents.

They were still the parents of Issei Hyoudou & he was damn proud of it.

"Wait, we're actually going to the libraries? Oh man~ I thought we were going shopping~!" Irina groaned and Issei sighed as their parents burst out laughing.

Yep, that's his best friend, everyone. He really needed to teach her the brilliance that was reading a book that's not manga.

A/N: And we are most likely done with the slice of life arc/ growing up arc!

Next chapter is the first battle!

I wanted to keep Kojiro in for a bit more, but like with Risa & Metatron, I didn't feel like I needed him for anymore and since Otoki also didn't bring any significance to the story itself other than being character development for Issei…

Man, I really feel like I'm Zamasu right now with how many mortals I'm ruthlessly killing off to make the story progress.

Like I was saying, since they didn't bring any thing big to the story, they got to go.

Like always, you can go to my Pat-reon-.-com-/-KingCrimsonNova to read ahead on this as well as many other stories & even some that haven't been released out to this site yet. If you want to, you are free to, but if you don't want, all's good as I will still be uploading here. This is just me trying to get some extra cash.

Now, as always, read, enjoy, review and until the next one...

Ba-Bye~!