---
"Ugh… is it morning already?"
I groaned, reaching out blindly to silence the alarm clock with a firm slap. The ringing ceased instantly. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I sat up slowly, trying to shake off the lingering drowsiness clinging to my body.
Stretching with a long, drawn-out sigh, I dragged myself toward the bathroom. No way in hell I'm heading to the academy unwashed. I don't care if it's just a fictional world now—there are standards. And going around smelling like week-old ramen isn't one I'm willing to keep.
Steam rolled over the edges of the door as I stepped out of the shower, drying off with a towel, and wrapping it loosely around my waist. I yawned, not quite ready to deal with the day.
And then, as if life had conspired to slap me fully awake—
"What the hell are you doing here?"
I stared blankly, blinking a few times as my brain tried to catch up. Rias. Naked. In my room. Again. The casualness of the situation should've been shocking, but really, I was just annoyed that even after taking a long shower on purpose to give her time to leave, she was still here. And still naked.
I wasn't complaining, per se.
"Did we… do something last night?" I asked, raising an eyebrow and not even pretending not to glance at her chest. I mean, who could blame me?
|•This feels wrong on so many levels•|
I sighed internally. This whole situation was bound to be a migraine. And it was just the start of the day.
---
Gorou and his wife stared at Rias and me with the kind of awe usually reserved for people who walk on water. Their son—obsessed with boobs to an almost religious degree—had brought an actual girl home. A stunning one, no less.
I didn't bother correcting their assumptions. Let them think what they wanted. I had more important things to focus on.
Namely, getting stronger as fast as possible.
No way in hell was I letting that smug bastard Vali have a cooler title than me.
Admittedly, most of my plans were inspired by the fanfics I read in my past life. Not the most reliable source of wisdom, but in this world, knowledge was power, and I had an encyclopedia of clichés and cheat-like strategies in my head.
The most feasible route for now? Master magic as quickly as possible and find a way to awaken the Boosted Gear.
And maybe get my hands on some of those fancy exorcist firearms. No harm in testing if I could fire them without divine backlash.
For now, though, I'd stick to playing the part of the airheaded otaku—a harmless, anime-obsessed fool who saw this whole situation as just another show.
Better they underestimate me.
---
"Buchou wants to see you."
Kiba's voice was calm as ever. That guy always looked like he just stepped out of a modeling gig.
I walked beside him toward the old school building. Soon, we entered the familiar clubroom where the rest of the group waited.
"Ooh, spooky setup," I muttered, feigning nervous curiosity as I looked around. My eyes caught on something else.
The sound of a running shower.
"They have a shower here?" I asked aloud, raising my brows. "Fancy."
A few moments later, Rias emerged from behind the curtain, steam trailing behind her. She moved to her usual spot, casting a shadow in the already dim room.
"Issei Hyoudou," she began with gravity, "do you believe in the supernat—"
"I punched a guy with wings. That's answer enough, right?"
I cut her off, giving her a lazy smirk.
She sighed, perhaps relieved she didn't have to go through the usual supernatural orientation speech. That could come later.
"In that case, I'll be brief."
Rias unfurled her wings, a display that was quickly echoed by everyone else in the room.
"We're demons."
---
Days had passed since that revelation.
Rias had me doing menial tasks—handing out flyers to gather experience. It was standard low-level devil work. But I knew what was coming.
Kala was arriving soon.
Good thing I brought a shotgun in my backpack.
---
"Finally! This chick was making me nervous."
The sky above shifted, clouds swirling unnaturally as the air grew heavy with tension. She descended from the heavens like a goddess of death, with presence to match.
"So… you're the Sacred Gear user who turned Donasheek into a punching bag?" she asked with a smirk.
Physics continued to ignore their own laws. She merely moved her arm, and I was already counting the bounce physics on her… divine artillery.
I tossed my bike to the side and extended my wings, the cool rush of air beneath them always a thrill. God, I loved these things.
If Rias let me, I'd fly to the convenience store just for snacks.
But no time for idiocy now.
I shot forward, pretending to go for a head-on assault. Predictably, Kala reacted by hurling a blinding lance of light at me.
Slower than Donasheek's attacks, but packed with far more menace.
I twisted midair to avoid the projectile, angling toward a nearby building and kicking off the wall to gain momentum.
CRASH!
My fist slammed into her, sending her airborne. A trail of blood leaked from her nose as she reeled from the impact.
I didn't let up.
I struck again and again, bouncing between rooftops and lamp posts to close the distance between each blow.
But then she changed tactics—light flared across her body, manifesting into jagged, glowing thorns.
"Cheap tricks, you damn crows!"
I launched myself off another building, determined to break through before the light armor fully formed.
|•If I hit her hard enough before the holy light damages me, I can win!•|
"Filthy demon!"
She erupted in a scream of wrath, her body exploding with radiant energy. A dome of light formed around her.
Too late to stop.
I charged in anyway.
BANG!
The holy light seared my skin, but I endured. Inside the dome, I raised my shotgun—the gift Rias had given me—and fired point-blank.
The blast broke her concentration, forcing her to channel her energy into hardening her body instead of maintaining the dome.
Didn't hurt her too badly, but I knew it stung.
|•Should've asked for a higher caliber...•|
Her wide-eyed expression brought a smirk to my lips. She didn't expect that. What, did she think I was bluffing before?
BANG!
Another shot slammed into her, shallow wounds appearing across her torso.
|•She's weak enough that even the knockoff Boosted Gear hurts her, but still tanky enough that point-blank shotgun blasts barely scratch her. Damn it.•|
The weapon glowed as a magic circle refreshed its load. A neat trick, though I wished it could conjure bullets from my own mana. Still, that would come in about a week.
I watched her breathing heavily, light fading from her form. Overuse was taking its toll.
Good.
BAM! BAM!
I rushed in close, unloading two more rounds into her head. The concussive force disrupted her flight, sending her crashing to the pavement below.
I followed, using my body like a bullet.
CRASH!
Dust clouded the impact zone. I landed beside her, reloaded again, and smiled.
"Hasta la vista, baby."
One last blast rendered her unconscious, maybe even dead. Either way, she was out of the fight.
---
"And that's what happened, Gremory-sama."
Rias was the only one present in the clubroom at the time. I didn't see a point in hiding the details. She seemed satisfied.
Unfortunately, I didn't manage to draw out the Twice Critical from that battle.
Not yet, anyway.
---
"So I finally get to tag along and witness a state-sanctioned murder?"
I asked with a smirk as we stepped into what looked like a garage.
Kiba glanced over at me, raising an eyebrow.
"That's… one way to put it."
He chuckled softly.
I made a face. It was honestly weird to see another guy act so casually smug.
At this rate, I might need Azazel's gender-bending ray just to put balance back in the universe.
Nah. Focus. We had a job to do.
A figure emerged in the distance. Female. Barely clothed. Probably intentional.
I grinned.
"Ha. Boobs."
I raised my new shotgun, aiming at the soon-to-be-existence-erased rogue devil.
Rias began her usual monologue about Evil Pieces and justice and all that moral preamble.
I tuned it out. I just wanted to pull the trigger.
---
"Gremory-sama, may I do the honors?"
I turned to her with my best pleading puppy eyes.
She smirked and nodded.
---
BAM! BAM! BAM!
I emptied rounds into the enemy without hesitation.
"Himejima-san, I get it now."
I reloaded and fired again, this time right into the woman's torso.
"Oh? Do you see it too?" Akeno asked, her tone teasing as she placed a hand on her cheek and zapped the rogue with a jolt of lightning.
"Of course I do. It's glorious."
The woman twitched one last time, then went still.
"…Huh. Thought she'd last longer," I said, shouldering the gun.
Akeno patted my back sympathetically.
"That's the sad part. They never do."
---
"Thanks for teaching me magic, Himejima-san."
I gave her a small smile while secretly referencing an old meme.
"No problem. We're teammates, after all."
Lately, I'd started learning basic magic from Akeno. I didn't want to rely solely on firearms—not when this world offered so much more potential.
For now, I was focusing on support spells.
My priority? Developing a technique that could counteract the physical strain of the Boosted Gear. If I could master that, I might be able to use it more freely.
I'd also managed to get a leave of absence from school for a few days.
I planned to scout several locations—places that fanfic protagonists in my previous life had used to become stupidly overpowered out of nowhere.
And maybe, just maybe, I'd run into Azazel.
I needed a Twice Critical—badly.
There was no way I was jamming a Divine Dividing gem into the Boosted Gear. That was a disaster waiting to happen.
The Twice Critical was a better fit.
Yeah, I might be thinking far ahead.
But that's how you stay alive in this world.
---