Hyoudou Issei

Blood trickled between his hands. His eyes were glassy, wet from the tears that fell from them on the beautiful face she was looking at. The eyes staring back at him were empty, lifeless, and that was the cause of his pain. Her golden hair was slipping from his fingers as he held her in his arms. He couldn't react, his mind had frozen, it was as if time itself had stopped. This was the second time he had lost her, and yet he couldn't process the death of his beloved. He didn't want to accept it.

That boy with the appearance of an old man was slowly approaching from behind his back. He wasn't trying to be stealthy, he was heavily wounded, of course that little boy alone hadn't been enough to defeat them both, but the death of his wife had taken away all will to continue fighting.

That arrogant boy was responsible for the death of his beloved. He hated him and, in a normal situation, he would have exterminated him by now, but he was too weak both physically and psychologically. That bastard who had taken his wife's life had now treacherously attacked him from behind with that sword, the only sword that could hurt him, thus destroying his heart with that bright light that prevented him from regenerating.

It was over, and yet, even having died a few seconds ago, his body was still in the same position, holding the now corpse of his wife, the most dignified and beautiful woman he had ever known.

— — • — — • — — • — —

Feeling himself falling into an endless void, Issei jolted awake as he rose in one swift movement from his original position. His breathing was frantic and the sweat covering his skin dampened the sheets of his bed, making them uncomfortable to touch. With his hand raised reaching for something that wasn't there, Issei brought it to his face as he composed himself by reorienting himself. He wasn't on the battlefield; he was in the safety of his room. With that thought Issei relaxed his back and dropped back down to the damp mattress. These kinds of nightmares weren't strange to him. Since he had regained his memories from his past life, tragic memories and regrets were the only thing his subconscious was willing to show him during his dreams.

Turning his head to his alarm clock, he saw that the alarm would go off in five minutes. So, wasting no time and annoyed by the sensation of his back touching the damp sheets beneath him, he got out of bed and headed to the bathroom to get ready for his daily routine.

Refreshed and with a clear mind after a shower, Issei made his way downstairs to the living room. Sitting at the table was his father reading the newspaper, a somewhat old-fashioned custom for the year 2020, but he was a man of habit. In the kitchen, coming and going, was his mother preparing breakfast. Although her movements were quick and might give the sense of hurry, her expression and movements were completely serene and graceful, as if the speed at which she was doing things wasn't due to a hurry, but to her own pace of doing things. When Issei arrived in the living room, he exchanged good morning with his parents as he sat down at the table. Immediately, his mother brought breakfast in front of him and placed it on the table. Food for Issei, for her husband and for herself, who after bringing everything she had prepared, sat down next to her husband, who put the newspaper aside to start eating with his family.

The Hyoudou family were peculiar people. Despite living like a model Japanese family, they stood out for the things that were visible to the naked eye. To begin with, it was obvious that they weren't Japanese, their facial features, as well as their personalities and customs didn't match the culture of the country, they lived in. If one had to guess, one would say that they were European foreigners, probably from Germany. But that was nothing more than a guess, since technically neither the man nor the woman of the house belonged to any nation that exists or ever existed on Earth. As for Issei, while he had been reincarnated and reborn on Japanese soil, the nation of his first life had long since been extinct.

The reason for the family's stay in Japan was due to the parents' particular interest in its culture and history. Being such a different people from what they were used to interact, they were both drawn by their curiosity to learn of this country's way of life and raise their son with its culture. Because of this, Issei was practically Japanese, perhaps not so much in appearance, but culturally. This remained so until his 17th birthday, when he finally regained all of his memories, causing both the teachings of his past and present life to blend together, resulting in someone who was easily mistaken for a simple tourist. Despite that, Issei was still the least outstanding among the three. Gorou and Miki Hyoudou, the false identities by which Issei's father and mother identified themselves. Both were extremely strange individuals, both their appearances and personalities were unusual, not only for the Japanese, but for any human being.

Miki, the mother. Her round, fine face was decorated by her long golden hair at times seemed to shine on its own. Her crimson red eyes were like two rubies embedded in her eyeballs. Her nose was a bit small, highlighting the size of her beautiful eyes. Her gaze was a sharp, but also motherly one, full of affection and wisdom. Her faint smile showed confidence, there was no need to show that she was happy, but there was no reason not to be happy either. Her body, perfectly proportioned, measured a little more than 2 meters, which made her body features stand out, as well as the volume of her hair, completely unattainable for a normal person. Overall, she looked like she had aged to the peak of her biological beauty and performance and had frozen in that state.

Gorou, the father. His face was squarer, with the shape of his skull showing off ever so slightly, not out of illness, but old age. His nose was a bit bigger than the average. His combed back hair was so dark that it didn't reflect the light. His relatively small eyes were equally black, unable to reflect the light, but still retaining a certain sparkle, as if coming from within him. His expression was as self-assured as his wife's, but unlike her, this one denoted a certain intimidating authority. One that could become suffocating if combined with his height of over 2 meters, giving him the appearance of a human wall. His smile, although deep down it was only a reflection of happiness, gave a certain sense of malice, as if he was telling the person in front of him that he could do whatever he wanted and they could do nothing to prevent it.

Issei, being their son, had inherited some of their features, especially those of his mother, with his crimson red eyes and golden hair. Although the latter only showed its true color as a reflection below the direct light of the sun, if that wasn't the case, then his hair was just a brown chestnut. What Issei hadn't inherited, besides their exaggerated height, was the attitude of his parents, who, despite being good people, had this somewhat condescending attitude towards other people. They couldn't help but feel superior to others, so it wasn't uncommon for their compassion and good manners with other people to be born out of the affection and tenderness that a person can have for an animal, rather than out of respect for others. This particular trait of both wasn't without justification, after all, they were gods living among mortals, beings who had traveled the stars for millennia, knowing an endless number of races and cultures. It was only natural that, with such a perspective, they would think themselves above anything humans could do. Issei, on the other hand, although he was the son of an elder god and a primal god, during his first life he had been raised as and by humans, and during his second, his parents had decided to raise him again as one. So, the title of deity, while accurate, didn't feel like it represented him.

–Have you noticed anything strange lately, Arthas?– finally breaking the silence, Gorou asked his son, with a father's characteristic curiosity for his offspring's life.

–Huh? Like at school?– answered Issei with a mouthful of his own toast.

–Exactly.

–Not really...– he answered, then corrected himself. –Well... actually there are those... demons... I think? but I don't think you mean them, do you?– Gorou smiled amusedly, confirming his son's assumption.

–Let him enjoy his life as a human, he may not even have crossed her– Miki inserted herself into the conversation with her sweet but mature voice.

–Right, let's not rush it, he still has time to discover his surprise– replied her husband, still with a mischievous smile on his face. To which Issei simply shrugged his shoulders in resignation and continued eating.

— — • — —

Issei was a fast eater. Regardless of the food, Issei had the habit of eating much faster than a normal person. This allowed him, among other things, to make the most of lunch breaks at the academy and be just in time for when hw was needed...

–Get back here! You degenerates!– Kuo's academy was incredibly large and that included its huge, green outdoor courtyards. Even with that large size and the murmur of the scattered students, the screams of the girls from the kendo club were perfectly audible.

Issei, who usually took advantage of these quiet moments to lie down on the grass and relax, diverted his attention to an everyday scene for him and the rest of the students. Matsuda and Motohama, the perverted duo, being chased by a mob of girls waving their bokkens with a distinguishable murderous fury. Once again these two had been caught spying on the girls in their locker room, and once again they were fleeing for their lives in an attempt to avoid being brutally beaten by girls who surpassed them in physical strength and numbers. Feeling the call of duty, Issei quickly got up and ran towards Matsuda and Motohama and, taking advantage of a corner to cut off the girls' line of sight, pushed them into some bushes, camouflaging them among the branches. By the time the girls rounded the corner there was no sign of those two degenerates, only Issei.

–They went that way– Issei pointed in a random direction that led to the back of the academy. Gratefully, the girls, led by Katase, thanked him and continued their pursuit. By the time they had disappeared from his sight, Issei turned to the fugitives' hiding place. –They're gone now, you can come out.

–Are they really gone? It wouldn't be the first time you fooled us...– Matsuda had reasons for his distrust, since, although Issei used to help them sometimes, he also used to rat them out to the club, earning the girls' trust, as well as the scorn of the two boys.

–This time it's for real, come out– trusting the seriousness of his voice, the duo came out of the bush, relieved of not seeing the girls around them.

–Thank you...– almost as a grumble, the duo thanked Issei.

From the start, the duo, two lifelong friends, had had their eyes on Kuo's academy, an all-girls school that had recently opened its doors to boys. This, in their eyes, was a golden opportunity to be one of the few boys in a school full of girls, the wet dream of any degenerate like the two of them. It was for this unpleasant reason that they soon got into trouble shortly after entering the first year of the academy. A brutal beating from the kendo club was what had awaited them had it not been for Issei's intervention. Even knowing what they had done, Issei defended them in front of the girls of the club and convinced them to forgive them for that one time. But despite having saved them from a beating that would have landed them in the infirmary, the duo didn't like that boy at all. A semi-blond-haired hero with a trained tongue for dialect and a charisma endearing enough to charm the club girls into putting down their wooden weapons. He was everything they weren't, and that irritated them, even more so when he turned to them and asked them nicely not to do that again.

What could that perfect boy known? Not everyone has it as easy as he does. With that smile and those eyes, he could sure sleep with all those bitches at the club if he wanted to.

Those were the duo's thoughts, and still are to this day. Those two were hopeless cases, scum of the lowest of humanity, yet Issei couldn't help but want to help them not get seriously hurt and even give them a second chance. But of course, they blew it and no matter how much Issei saved them again and again, even he realized how futile his efforts were to make those two change their attitude. So, it wasn't uncommon that sometimes, instead of helping them escape, he himself helped the kendo club to teach them a lesson about respecting other people's privacy.

Issei wouldn't acknowledge it, but the true was that he suffered from what would be called a "Hero Complex", constantly being the victim of his own desires to want to help others, even if they didn't need it, and that often caused him to get into trouble that he could easily get out of if he just looked the other way. That constant need within him was, far from being something admirable, a burden in the form of a fake duty that kept him permanently restless. Therefore, whenever he was able to find an appropriate moment, he would set out to enjoy the peace and quiet as few people would. It was only natural, someone so tormented by the battlefields of his past and the suffering of people, should be able to find a moment of peace so as not to lose his sanity.

So quiet and so peaceful, the small space behind the old academy building was a perfect place for him to relax and rest. It wasn't entirely safe, however, as presences far more noticeable than the average human of this world haunted the school. If Issei were to try to deduce what they were, he would say that their presences were similar to those of the demons of the fourth world. They always kept him with one eye open, being unsure of their intentions. It was especially that crimson-haired girl that left him uneasy, her gaze fixed on him always making him nervous. Plus, she seemed strangely familiar.

— — • — —

The sun was already setting and Issei was returning home. The street was quiet. In a town as secluded as Kuo, it was normal that at certain times of the day such a scarcity of people could be seen. However, at this moment Issei couldn't shake the feeling that he was being followed. In yesteryear, during his training at the paladin academy, Issei had been trained from the ground up to be an invincible warrior. One of the first things he was taught was to be able to perceive the presence of other living beings through the Prime Energy they gave off. Issei wasn't sure if that feeling of persecution was him being paranoid, or if his rusty instincts were telling him something. It was soon after when he confirmed that it was the latter when that same feeling presented itself multiplied by a thousand when this girl appeared in front of him.

–You are... Issei... Hyoudou... from the Kuo academy... right?– her hair was black as the darkness of the night, her violet eyes shone like crystals, the features of her face were perfect, there wasn't a single flaw in her pale skin that looked like porcelain. Under that uniform of an academy foreign to Issei, one could notice that her body was proportionally as beautiful as her face. Contrasting with that beauty that could easily captivate any teenager, her expressions, posture and voice revealed an innocent personality, like that of a princess in a fairy tale.

–Yep, that's me– Issei had seen many other women infinitely more beautiful than her, so controlling his drooling teenage hormones wasn't really a problem... yet.

–Good thing! I didn't want to make a mistake...– her nervous attitude from the question a moment ago vanished, as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Or at least that's how it seemed; the truth is that his whole attitude seemed very exaggerated to Issei.

–And tell me, what do you need?– despite his suspicions, Issei continued with the conversation.

–Huh? ah etooo... please, GO OUT WITH ME!

–Eh?–Issei reacted in the only reasonable way: with utter confusion.

–You see, I know it's weird, but... I always see you passing by this bridge and... I ended up... falling in love– if this girl's attitude was parodic to Issei before, now it was the last straw. It wasn't just her attitude, her whole persona seemed like something out of an extremely syrupy romantic manga. It was as if her whole personality was built to be a chump chaser. Anyone would be able to see that, and, therefore, anyone would be able to understand that this girl had no good intentions. However...

–Ok... I'll go out with you– not a very wise decision and he was fully aware of it, but with his interest captured and his curiosity present, his mind, clouded by the raging hormones of that teenage body, decided that this was the best option.

End Chapter 1: Hyoudou Issei