DXD: Solomon's Rings

My day had started as usual in my routine. I woke up, did my morning hygiene, and took a shower to get ready for another day of school. I attended a full-time high school that, in addition to regular classes, allowed students to choose a technical course to combine with their studies and gain some preliminary professional knowledge.

My name is Rafaela Oliveira Hasegawa. I am a Japanese-Brazilian girl living in a small town in the interior of São Paulo, Brazil. I am the daughter of a Brazilian mother with Portuguese/Italian ancestry and a Japanese father. I'm currently 17 years old and in my third year of high school. I've always been a quiet girl with few friends. I have some difficulty socializing, which makes things harder. Luckily, I've never been bullied. At my school, that sort of thing isn't common. Anyway, let's get back to my day.

My classes start at 7:00 AM and only end at 3:00 PM. This schedule, combined with the one-hour commute each way, makes my days quite exhausting, but I've never complained.

After another long day, I was on the bus heading home. Most of the time, my pastime during the ride is watching or reading some form of entertainment, usually anime or manga. This has been a big part of my life since childhood when anime aired on TV, and it continues today through the internet.

The most recent work I was reading was High School DXD. I started reading it on the recommendation of a close friend. I must say, the series is… unique, to put it mildly. Obviously, I find the excessive ecchi and the protagonist a bit discouraging. Not that I hate him; he has some pretty gross behaviors, like peeking on girls, but he also has moments where his good heart shines through. What intrigued me most about the series, however, was its universe. The race system, the story, and especially the famous Sacred Gears, which include legendary objects turned into powerful weapons, really drew me in.

This was similar to what had gotten me into the Fate series. Having mythological and cultural figures mixed with objects and powers rich in references was incredibly fun. Not that I'm a history nerd or anything—I'm actually terrible at it. My struggle to memorize the dates of World War I is proof of that.

Anyway, I digress. I had just finished watching the latest episode of DXD and found it quite entertaining. With a sigh, I started browsing random videos to pass the remaining travel time faster. To my surprise, a pop-up questionnaire appeared on my screen, one of those that most people call "free viruses."

A large banner reading "ISEKAI QUESTIONNAIRE" appeared on my screen. After some checks to make sure it wouldn't harm my device, I decided to play along.

Questions like "What anime would you choose to reincarnate into if you had the chance?" popped up. Riding the hype, I chose High School DXD, even though I had other preferences.

I answered several more questions and, finally, submitted the questionnaire.

Not even a few seconds had passed when a second questionnaire appeared. This one, however, had only one question: "If you could choose a Sacred Gear, which one would it be?"

Since it had a free-text field, I figured I could customize my answer. This made me think for a moment. In the DXD universe, there are numerous powerful Sacred Gears, like Cao Cao's spear—the very one that pierced Jesus Christ, holding immense sacred power—or the weapons of Ddraig and Albion, and even a Sacred Gear capable of creating monsters.

"Hm… it would be pretty fun to have one based on Solomon's Ten Rings. After all, Solomon is a famous figure in Christianity, and these objects would likely be immensely powerful if they existed there."

I ended up typing about the rings, imagining them as a Longinus-class Sacred Gear and detailing the powers I thought each ring could have, as well as the Balance Breaker.

With a slightly proud smile on my lips, I submitted my response.

I waited a few moments to see if anything else would pop up, but to my disappointment, nothing did. With a sigh, I closed my eyes, reflecting on the brief but entertaining questionnaire I had just answered.

Then, a notification sounded on my phone, snapping my eyes open.

"Thank you for completing the reincarnation questionnaire. A new life has been granted to you by the entity $%¨&*, based on your previous choices. Good luck!"

That message had appeared on my phone screen. My head spun for a moment before my vision went completely dark, and I could no longer feel my body.