3 act III

When I found out that I became a devil, I didn't account for this. Actually, can't I just quit? I mean, there's no way you seriously thought I'd be capable enough to handle that much social interaction. For fuck sake, I feel like a delivery boy, except what I'm supposed to be delivering here is empty promises. Actually, that might be a mild way to put it, in hindsight.

The reason for my sudden outburst it's actually quite a simple one. It's midnight and instead of playing my eroge-.. I mean, medieval fantasy RPG, I'm pedalling my bike distributing flayers around the town.

If that was the only reason, I honestly wouldn't have even minded doing all this work. But the catch is that, as Senpai explained yesterday, I'm supposed to be going to recruit people to the dark side later on.

Basically, these fliers had magic circles on them. These magic circles react to people with a strong sense of greed. "We will fulfill your dearest wish"' is written in capital letters all over the fliers.

And that's where devils come in play. If someone actually believes all that, a devil is summoned to take up on their request. But what if they request a harem like that dumb Hyoudou? Imagine, someone asking me to get em girls when up until recently they considered me a creep. Jeez, at least I don't have dead fish eyes.

Oh, I forgot to mention I was technically operating on Gremory-senpai's territory. That is, the city of Kuoh. Apparently, being from a high-ranking Devil family means you can own land in the human world. Does that mean even big cities like Kyoto and Tokyo are actually owned by devils? That's a terrifying thought. This alternate Japan was looming with occult creatures.

I sighed as I placed the last flier in the mail box of a house on a street just near the outskirts I was so familiar with.

That actually made me more depressed. At least tomorrow is a day off for me to relax. I gotta take my head off this stuff for a while. For real.

It was a sunny Sunday in Kuoh and I was talking a walk outside, trying to clear my head.

As expected, walking in the sunlight made me feel weaker than usual. In contrast to that, I was feeling totally refreshed at night. I mean, I'm no stranger to staying up all night, but the fatigue is gone.

My stamina improved too, I couldn't do anything like pedalling through the town if it was the old me. What can I say, I'm scrawny like a stick and I always come last place in PE. You'd think being brought into a different world would give you cheat skills over its inhabitants but no, that's not how it works.

You'd be inclined to think that if you read a lot of light novels or manga.

As I walked through the alley near the shopping center, I could see a lot of couples, high schoolers or otherwise, holding hands. Some of them were even kissing in public.

"Tch, would you mind a little decency?", I muttered, clicking my tongue.

If people were complaining about those gay parades where lgbt couples licked each other in full street, no one was saying anything about a straight couple. Again, double standard. I'd rather have not witness public display of affection. Think about the time, place and occasion, you fucking morons.

My thoughts suddenly turned to my chaotic, almost none existing love life. A lifetime of rejected confessions, toxic relationships and messy break ups made me what I am now. They're all back in my world. I wasn't as stupid as to repeat the same mistake. Cause I get emotionally attached pretty quick, and when I do, I become obsessed with said person.

Obviously, it's not possible for me to establish a connection with everyone I, let's say, befriend. I'm not an open book. It's just... people, usually of the opposite sex, that I establish a connection I feel can be deeper than with the rest. If I was in an anime, that might have not been a problem, but people are shallow. I used to think I'm a freak for even thinking it can be done in the real world.

Hence why I'm feeling like an outsider in that club or slave gang or whatever. They all seemed close to each other, it feels like I'm intruding in on something. Maybe it's just my imagination. has stopped working.

I snapped out of my thoughts to notice that I've been walking on autopilot for a while. I looked around and I noticed that I was halfway on the road I usually walk to when I'm going to school. I walked half of town absent-mindedly, jeez...

Then, an unusual sight caught my attention. Unusual being a major understatement. The pretty boy of the pervert trio, my classmate, Hyoudou Issei. Walking next to a girl. I rubbed my eyes to see if I'm imagining things or something but no, it seemed to be real.

Lmao, shit's going down the path of absurdity.

Oh, the girl's a nun. Well, it'd make sense that nuns are the only girls that are nice enough to hang out with him.

Blonde hair, green eyes. She's not a refined beauty like Senpai, but she's pretty in her own right. She looked to be a foreigner... definitely European though I can't point out the exact country.

She seemed too beautiful to be Italian, too pure to be French, too refined to be English. She didn't look like she was Eastern either. Girls from Eastern Europe have their own, rare beauty.

And how does Hyoudou understand her? Does she speak Japanese or does he speak foreign languages? Why am I considering the second to even be an option?

Needless to say, I was getting curious about whoever this girl was, so I decided to follow them. Cause apparently, I don't have anything better to do with my time than stalk a pervert for talking to a girl. I hate my life.

Deep breaths, Kokonoe. It's normal, you're a devil stalking a nun. Nah, it doesn't help.

After a few moments of walking, I saw them stopping by a park. Or rather, she was stopping. Nun girl went inside the park towards a boy who was sitting down and crying, having apparently hurt his leg. Hyoudou followed. I could hear them from this distance thanks to my advanced senses. 108 cheat skills: enhanced hearing activated.

"Are you okay? Boys shouldn't cry with a minor injury like this."

Nun girl pat the boy's head gently. With a kind expression on her face, she put her palm where the boy has injured himself. The next moment, a green light orb appeared from the Nun's palm, flashing onto the boy's knee.

I blinked. The boy's knee was completely healed.

It seemed like her power was similar to mine. What was it called again? Sacred Gear? I used to think I was special for my ice powers, think they were my gift for being an otherworlder. But then Senpai explained to me that a good number of other humans have such quirks. They're not an overwhelming majority over the quirkless but there's enough humans with Sacred Gears.

So, I should actually be thankful for the fact that I've received a power in the first place. Whereas someone like fucking Touya Mochizuki goes into another world with his smartphone and hogs a bunch of hoes all for himself. The gods (ouch) of isekai fantasy are sure biased. I mean, I got a smartphone in another world too, damnit. Jokes aside, at least my isekai is 21th century. What would I do without modern tech?...

Hyoudou, for his part, was dumbfounded. I'm a wizard, I can predict the future. He'll start screaming in 3, 2, 1...

"Here, your wounds are healed. The pain should be gone now"

So she said, before turning to Hyoudou and flashing him a sheepish smile, sticking her tongue out at him.

"I'm sorry. But I had to."

Ara? Are there really naive girls out there? Those are probably easiest to get. Save their life once and you'd get yourself a lifetime partner. Or at least a lifetime harem member. Even Hyoudou could pull it off. Too bad his harem can only have 1 person at best. I'd say it's more than I have and bow before His Majesty, but idgaf lol. It's not like I'm the protagonist of a harem anime or anything.

Theboy's mother, after recovering from her shock, shook her head in disbelief, then grabbed the boy's hand so they could leave.

"Thank you, Onee-chan!"

She smiled at the boy. Then Nun girl and Hyoudou turned to leave.

"HOW DID YOU DO THAT?"

And here we go. I should've started the countdown later but I'm half right on the bet. I hate having advanced hearing, my eardrums are this close to bleeding. It's like you'd listen black metal at full volume for 8 hours straight.

Good luck keeping your hearing intact (or your eardrums unharmed) after that.

"Eh?"

The girl, for her part, let out a small squeak, startled by this sudden reaction. But Hyoudou was beaming (literally; quit that, it's gross) at her.

"That power. It was amazing!"

He flashed her a toothy grin and a thumbs up. God (ow), I swear I was looking at Naruto Uzumaki at that very moment.

"Yes, it's the power to heal. It's a wonderful power that God gave me."

She looked a bit sad, even though she was smiling. Stepford Smiler syndrome is contagious. It seemed like she has some dark past or something.

Even Hyoudou was able to pick up on it, since he chose to stay quiet.

It might be just my impression, but he's actually going about it the smooth way. You'd already have a girlfriend if you could play gentlemen instead of goofing over their body parts.

Looks like he was helping her find the church of this town. I think I should get going. That church actually starts to scare me. I watched Hyoudou and the nun enter the church from a safe distance.

It feels like my body was being torn apart from the inside. I was shaking like I had Parkinson and my head was a throbbing mess. Forfucksakestopthepain! Aaaaaaaaarghhh...

It stopped after I got further away, but I had a strong sense of fatigue left. It's as if I had a caffeine crash. Guess I remember now what mom said about devils being unable to get near a church or be blinded by light. Mom was religious through and through. Imagine being an Orthodox, going on a trip to a Catholic monastery in a Muslim country.

That was mom's trip to Bosnia during her time in college. When she told me she saw a person possessed by the devil at that very monastery, I didn't believe it.

She told me a story of how the possessed person shouted words like "stop it, it burns me" while everyone else was praying during the Sunday service. She said those words were undoubtedly uttered by the devil inside that man. And once they finished the prayer, the man returned to normal.

Cruel irony makes it so that I'm a devil in another world now and I got to experience the same thing she said she witnessed. On my own skin. I was filled with some sense of dread.

I don't wanna think about what she'd be feeling if she saw me right now. I couldn't stand to be around her back then, now it'd be worse.

I'm in the backyard of my house, doing something I'd never thought I'd do. Training, that is. I've started with the most basic training regimen I could think of. 100 sit-ups, 100 push-ups, 100 squats, and a 10 kilometer run. I've been doing this for the past few days to build up muscles, I hope I won't go bald in 3 years.

Jokes aside, you'd think that I'd be able to ace that due to my new found devil strength. Let me tell you how wrong you are.

Because my body strength as a human was absurdly low (I couldn't even do one push-up, though sit-ups and squats worked were a different story), I'd start feeling tired at around 30.

I was basically just pushing myself past my physical limitations. Why was I doing this, you ask? Cause I don't fancy being kicked around like a rag doll. I foolishly made the assumption that if I had that power, I could just fend off anything so I didn't train. Hell, I even thought I was overpowered. And it ended in me getting my ass killed.

I also had some other plans like learning some actual combat, and training my abilities to maximize these powers I got. All in due time, I supposed.

After wrapping up training for the day, I went inside and seated myself on the couch in the living room. I turned on the tv but I didn't really pay attention to it, it was more like background noise at this point. It was routine at this point.

The Kokonoe household was quite a small one. Two members. Mother and son. And since mother was always at work until late at night, you could basically say I lived alone.

Suddenly, the door bell rang. Weird. The door bell of this house almost never rings. Don't tell me I suddenly had guests.

"Yeah, coming"

Lazily, I got up and made my way to the entrance. The figure of Rias Gremory greeted me as soon as I opened the door.

"Ah, Gremory-senpai."

She looked to be bothered by something. Actually, it's more like she wore a pissed off expression. Did I do something wrong? Am I gonna die? I'm too young to-... actually, nevermind.

"Kokonoe-kun, we need to talk"

Now, now, what's with the demanding tone? Easy there. Tell me what happened and we can talk it out, no need to be lashing at me. Jeez...

"Well, take a seat.", I motioned to the table in my kitchen and she followed after me and sat on a chair.

Yeah, I know how bizarre it is to invite your guest into your kitchen rather than your living room but we didn't exactly have neither a kotatsu nor seats available. Kokonoe household, ladies and gentlemen.

I turned to Senpai.

"Tea or coffee?"

"Eh?". She tilted her head as if she didn't understand the meaning of the question. I think I made myself clear though.

"I'm asking: you want tea or coffee?"

"Then, a cup of tea please"

Said and done. While I waited for the tea to boil, I was wondering what was so important that she came over to my house on a free day. Did I do something to piss her off? Cause she seems to be in a bad mood and I can tell it's more or less on me.

I snapped out of my thoughts and placed a cup of tea before her and one for myself as I seated myself in the other seat, facing her directly.

"So, what did you wanna talk about?"

A little ice breaker wouldn't hurt. I think. Maybe I am inconsiderate.

As I said that, Gremory-senpai's face turned serious. It was almost like I was looking at my usual expression. That's... quite the death flag there.

"Don't ever get close to the Church again."

What? Has she been watching me? It was my turn to make a deadpan expression.

"Were you stalking me?", I asked evenly.

She was stalking Hyoudou fucking Issei's stalker. Stalking game is so strong in here I might just count it as one of this world's regular occurrences.

"And you were stalking a nun. Seriously, what were you thinking?", she chided.

What the fuck? Does she think that I wanted to kill that nun or something? I'm not as attached to the devil race to try attack the rival side to gain recognition and I'm not as cruel to murder someone innocent. Jeez, I was just bored and Hyoudou actually hitting it with a girl seemed like a good distraction.

"Hyoudou is my classmate, I was bored and he was hanging out with a beautiful girl. Of course I'd be curious."

"Your curiosity could have endangered us"

I remember hearing the story of that stupid Three Factions War between Angels, Fallens and Devils. Stupid fucks fighting for power, all of them, to be honest. However, that war took place millennias ago, if I remember correctly. Hundreds of years of rivalry between human races paled in comparison. The status of the ceasefire was frail at best, so I could technically understand why she was so worried about all that stuff.

I wasn't going to wander off in the lion's den, for fuck sake.

"It would have, if I have been mindless enough to attack them"

To my retort, Gremory-senpai made an irritated face. I could tell that she was getting angry.

"Kokonoe-kun, this is serious!", she shouted. "To us Devils, the Church is an enemy's territory. Just stepping into it can cause a rift between the Devils and God. The Angels are always on the lookout. You were in a situation where it wouldn't be strange for them to hit you with a spear of light."

…Are you serious? You're saying that angels somehow are guarding a fucking empty church? That place was deserted ever since I've known it.

I mean, yeah, the pain I felt before wasn't normal but I'm sure it's still deserted. I mean, come on, I was there before. No one knew the abandoned, deserted places in this town better than me.

I didn't argue back tho. If I can prevent an argument by keeping my mouth shut, I might as well.

"Don't get involved with people from the Church. Especially the Exorcists who are our biggest enemy. They could easily eliminate us because their powers are supported by the prayer of God. More so if it is an Exorcist with a Sacred Gear. That would be the same as standing on the boundary of death, Kokonoe."

Gremory-senpai looked at me directly with her blue eyes while waving her crimson hair.

"You could avoid death as a human by being resurrected as a Devil. But Devils who are exorcised become completely terminated. They return to nothing. —Nothing. There is nothing left and you feel nothing. Do you know how serious that is?"

Nothing, huh? At some point, I wanted to return to nothing so bad, but instead of that, I kept being dragged around in all of this bullshit. Something inside of me snapped as I heard her scolding. It was a so familiar sensation, being admonished by my peers. Unfairly, this time.

Is this never going to change, no matter the world? I felt a laugh threatening to creep into my throat, but I pushed down the feeling.

She must have sensed my turmoil, cause she shook her head right after seeing my bangs covering my eyes while I looked at the ground.

"I'm sorry. I got too heated. Anyway, be careful from now on."

I knew that she meant well. But at that time, there was just too much darkness I was carrying on my shoulder. After all, I knew people who meant well, but that didn't stop them from treating me like dirt.

Well, this time around I guess I earned it. She does feel entitled to treat me like that... cause I'm her property.

"I will"

My voice must have come out rather dry, cause I saw her immediately looking at me with a raised eyebrow.

"If we're done here, can you please leave me alone? I need time to reflect on what I've done"

She seemed surprised by my reaction, enough for her to open her mouth to retort.

"No, it's not like that..."

I decided not to answer. She wasn't looking like she had anything more to say, so I showed her to the entrance and we left without so much as a goodbye.

I collapsed on the couch in the living room.

It wasn't really Gremory-senpai's fault. She was just being worried, I got that. It's just... this way of reprimanding me, everything, was so familiar.

I could hear it like all the time from all my relatives. I was that much of a loser in my past life after all.

I suppose I'm gonna make peace with her tomorrow. It's hard to say who got carried away more but there's no denying that she was right. Besides, it wouldn't do if we had an argument so early in the game

With that thought in mind, I climbed the stairs to my room and turned on my pc. I decided to play an RPG to kill time.

[Issei POV]

Yesterday, I met an angel. A cute, clumsy angel. She looked like she was lost, and I helped her find the church. Her name was Asia Argento... and she was really my type!

Now all I could think of was her blonde hair flowing in the wind as she dropped her veil, her green eyes, always looking so kind... her white panties when she tripped and fell over... I'm getting excited.

After I showed her to the church yesterday, she invited me over to have some tea. We talked for a bit and she said she'll be excited to see me around.

It's not like we promised to see each other or anything, but since she's around, I could ask her out anytime.

Wait! That would be like a date! My first date! Is the spring of youth finally blooming for me?!

"Hey, Ise, are you listening?"

And that was my perverted buddy, Matsuda, speaking. My other perverted buddy, Motohama, was right next to him.

Yeah, I'm in the classroom.

"Sorry. You were saying?"

"I said. Are you free today? Let's all go to my place and watch Kizou's collection"

Next to him, Motohama was nodding frantically, his glasses shining.

I don't have anything planned, but. I thought I'd be fun to tease them a little.

"Sorry, I have other plans"

Matsuda and Motohama looked baffled.

"What other plans could you possibly have? Don't tell me you got a girlfriend or something"

I decided to play along a little.

"And what if I did?"

This time, all of my classmates seemed shocked. Well, except Kokonoe. I don't think that guy even has emotions.

"No, there's no way Issei would have a girlfriend, right?"

"Issei, stop joking around, man, it's not funny"

I smirked at my perverted friends. My classmates were in disbelief too.

"Hyoudou's lying, isn't he?"

"There's no way that perv would get a girlfriend"

"Yeah, he's obviously bluffing"

Then, Kokonoe spoke up.

"Ah, and I thought I was hallucinating when I saw Hyoudou with a blonde girl yesterday. Good grief"

Wait, what? Kokonoe saw me and Asia? I looked at him and he was running his hand through his spiky black hair. That hair and his emotionless, hazel eyes made him look like a delinquent. Maybe he was one.

He noticed my stare and flashed me a knowing smirk. So he really did see us, huh?

The class erupted into chaos soon after that.

"Eh? Hyoudou isn't lying?"

"It can't be, right?"

"Ise, you traitor!"

"Consider this, lads, Hyoudou might have a girlfriend. A zombie apocalypse has better odds of actually happening. Can you feel it? The end of the world is coming"

Tch. You're all rude.

...

As soon as I walked out of the school gates, I spotted a girl waiting by the entrance.

It's a girl I was familiar with.

"Asia. What are you doing here?"

Was she waiting for me? It's hard to believe but what if she is...

"I wanted to see Ise-san... and he told me he was at school here.. so I came to see you~"

She was beaming at me as she said that. I blushed. She said something very embarrassing in such a straightforward way.

I scratched my cheek.

"Well... I was able to grab something to eat... wanna come over?"

"Yes", she answered happily.

"Wait! It wasn't a bluff? Ise has a girlfriend?"

"Impossible..."

Oh, I almost forgot Matsuda and Motohama were here.

"G-g-girlfriend?"

Asia blushed fiercely, and waved her hands around to deny it.

"Well, don't worry about it, that's just how dumb people are eager to jump to conclusions."

How reassuring, Kokonoe. Wait! There's a crowd of students around us already. They're glancing us with curious or shocked expressions.

"Oh... It's nothing like that. Asia and I are just friends"

I saw Asia visibly flinch at the word "friends". And the crowd of students looked perplexed.

I grabbed Asia by the hand.

"Come on, Asia, let's go"

"Eh? Ah? Wait, slow down, Ise-san... uuu..."

...

…Auu."

It's a strange sight. A Sister is getting confused in front of the register.

"W-What would you like to order…?"

Even the employee doesn't know how to handle this situation. I took Asia to a fast food restaurant at the business district.

It seems like Asia never came to this kind of place before, so she is having a hard time choosing her meal.

I offered my help, but she said proudly, "It's fine, I will manage it somehow", so I have been watching her the whole time…

But she clearly doesn't look like she even knew what to order in the first place. Maybe she was having a hard time deciding.

Seeing the chance, I help her.

"Sorry. She will have the same order as me."

"Okay."

The employee takes the order. Asia on the other hand is shocked.

"Sorry. You were having a hard time deciding so I thought I'd help you out."

"A-ah, I see. Sorry"

She was blushing for some reason.

We headed towards an empty table as soon as we got our meals. While we were moving inside the restaurant, most of the male customers were looking at Asia. It's because she is a nun, but also because she's really cute.

Well, any guy will look at her if they saw her.

We sat opposite each other, but Asia is taking a really good look at the hamburger and isn't eating it. Rather, does she even know how to eat it? Wow, what a strange development.

"Princess, you can eat this by taking the wrap off like this."

I showed her how to do it while smiling.

"T-There's actually a way to eat like that!? A-Amazing!"

…What a reaction. You are seriously cute, Asia. Just like a baby who just learned how to walk.

"You also eat the fries like this."

"Oh my!"

Asia is looking at me eating the fries with very keen eyes.

"No no, you also eat, Asia."

"Y-Yes."

She takes a small bite of the burger.

She starts eating it.

"D-Delicious! This burger is very delicious!"

This girl is saying it while her eyes are shining. What does she normally eat?

"You never ate a burger before?"

"No. I have seen it often on television, but it's my first time eating it. I'm moved! It's delicious!"

"Oh. So what do you normally eat?"

"Mainly bread and soup. I also eat vegetable and pasta food."

Such simple food. Is the Church like that?

"Is that right? Then eat it carefully so you remember the taste. "

"Yes. I will eat it with joy."

Such a cute girl. I can't believe she's talking to me.

I suddenly remembered yesterday when she healed that boy with just her hand. How can she have a power that borders on supernatural but still be so inexperienced with the world?

I've been meaning to ask her this for a while.

"Ano... Asia-chan?"

She tilted her head. Cute.

"I know it might be an uncomfortable question, but... what's with that power? I've never seen anything like that."

Asia's face fell, an expression of deep sadness replacing her simle. What she told me next was unbelievable. She told me a story about the girl who was once called the "Holy Maiden". In a certain region in Europe, there was a girl who was discarded by her parents. She was raised in a Church nearby by a nun along with other orphans.

The girl who was a strong follower of the Church received a special power at the age of 8. She healed a wounded puppy, and a person from the Catholic Church witnessed it by chance. From there on, her life changed.

The girl was taken to the main Catholic Church and she was symbolised by many as a "Holy Maiden" because of her healing power. She used her power to heal many believers and they were told it was a power of divine protection. Rumours brought rumours and she was respected as a "Holy Maiden". Even without her approval.

She had no dissatisfaction for how she was treated. People from the Church were kind and she didn't hate healing people. She instead was happy that her power was of use. The girl was thankful to her power which was bestowed to her by God. But she was a bit lonely. She didn't have any friends she could open up to.

Everyone treated her nicely and was nice to her. But there were no one willing to become her friend. She understood why. She knew that they were looking at her power as something irregular. They didn't look at her as a human but as a creature that could heal humans. But one day, it changed. By coincidence, there was a Devil nearby and she healed it.

A wounded Devil. The girl couldn't ignore it. She thought that even if it was a Devil, she had to heal it if it was injured. It was her kindness that made her take such an action. But that changed her life forever. One of the people from the Church saw that incident and notified others of the Church.

The ministers of the Church were shocked about it. Such a power should only be used to heal the church folk, not devils and fallen angels. So, the girl who was once hailed as a "Holy Maiden" was excommunicated and sent to a church in Japan.

My brain couldn't follow. Devils, Fallen Angels, Holy Maiden, Church. It was too much to wrap my head around. It sounded like something coming out of a fantasy manga. But, I saw it with my own eyes. No normal human could heal someone just using their hand... so if there were people like that, there were also supernatural beings? Like those you find in stories?

No, more importantly, this story...

"This... is your story, isn't it?"

"Yes", she said with a sad smile and I could see tears forming in the corner of her eyes. "This is also a trial that the lord gave me. Since I'm a clumsy nun, the lord gave me this trial. So I have to endure it."

She was laughing as if she was talking to herself. You don't have to say anything any more…

"I'm sure I will make lots of friends one day. I have a dream. I want to go buy flowers with a friend, buying books and…talk…"

I clenched my fists.

"Lord's trial? Are you fucking kidding me? No one deserves that kind of suffering. I may not understand anything about God and Devils and Church, but you've been enduring a lot, haven't you?"

Asia was too stunned to speak, so she just looked at me.

"So, don't go around saying such sad things. If no one accepts you, I'll become Asia's friend. No, we're already friends."

Even I know I was lame at this kind of talk. But I felt like I genuinely wanted to be by this girl's side. Not for her breasts, but because I wanted to be with her, to protect her. It's a feeling I've never had before and I don't know how it will turn out with all that crazy stuff I learned today. But none of that even mattered.

I flashed her a toothy grin.

"So, let's go have some fun"

Asia smiled at me, with tears in her eyes.

"Yes!"

After that, we went to the arcade to play some games, we went to karaoke, we watched a movie. It's kind of embarrassing to say, but it was kinda like a date. It was the best day of my life.