Me? Human? : Chapter 17 : Finally! An Energy Source! (Patreon)

Disclaimer - I don't own any of the characters appearing in High School DXD or the Anime or the manga whatsoever.

ORC, Kuoh, Japan

–Motohama Kenji–

His eyes snapped open as he violently shot out of whatever it was that he was sleeping on, his body still running on that fight/kill instinct as he reached for a knife that was no longer there, his hands clenching on nothing, only for his body to freeze as he saw the place he was in.

He was obviously no longer in the garden, potentially bleeding to death as he was forced to eat something he never thought he would look at as food. Instead, he was in an office? The large desk, the bookshelf behind, the two chairs in front of the table suggested as much.

Then, the events of last night hit him. Specifically, the slightly blurry part about him waking up and stopping Rias from reincarnating him, and then proceeding to eat a bunch of grass, trees, plastic? For some reason, the taste and texture of plastic were in his memories as he was fed real food later on, probably by Rias.

The next moment, his hands roamed all over his body, checking for damage, and to his relief, found none. He was even wearing new clothes, though they were now slightly tight on him because he had likely grown in all dimensions.

After all, there was a big difference between consuming wood and grass as fuel for his power and the wing of a Supernatural being. Speaking of which, he could feel it, faint as it was. A fullness in his stomach that was not borne of eating food. It was something else, and that alone had him grinning like a loon.

Half mad and desperate to survive as he was, he had enough presence of mind to realise that his action of consuming Raynare’s wing was only going to be beneficial to him. The biggest benefit, aside from saving him from death, was the chance of gaining a fuel source that the Fallen had, something that he could use to either create a new energy source within him or jumpstart the latent magical talent that most humans seemed to have. Either way, either option would have given him a source of energy for his adaptations to work, without having to rely on food.

That alone would have been a massive boost, but the other stuff? He could feel something near his back, as if flexing there might lead to something interesting, but he held off on doing anything because he recognised where he was. There was only one place Rias would take him after the events of last night.

The Occult Research Club.

The de facto HQ of Rias Gremory and her peerage. The fact that he was in her office, instead of one of the many bedrooms they should have here, given their liberal use of spatial magic, meant that his condition was deemed good enough for him to stay here. 

As he sat on the very comfortable sofa, he began noticing stuff. There was an odd buzzing noise all around him, as if he was hearing or sensing something in the background. He could also hear far more clearly than before. The office likely had magical soundproofing, but that just meant he could hear his own bodily functions much more clearly.

Experimentally, he stood up and went near the table, and the buzzing in the background only increased. It dimmed in intensity as he stepped away and increased when he went near the table or the walls or the chair right behind the table. In fact, the chair somehow felt louder than anything in the office, which confused him a bit as it looked like a regular, if a bit big, chair.

Before he could ponder anything, he turned around, hearing the physical impact on the door’s doorknob before the door itself was pushed open. The buzzing sound became deafening as he felt her enter. 

Rias Gremory, followed by Akeno Himejima. Both of them felt as if someone had placed multiple giant concert speakers right next to his ears. He winced, closing his eyes, focusing on the sound of his own heartbeat, trying to reduce the intensity, and after what felt like a minute of pain, he finally succeeded, reducing the sensitivity of his newly obtained magical sense.

Opening his eyes, he found himself facing the concerned face of Rias, leaning far too close for comfort. Clearing his throat, he leaned back a bit as Rias’ smile seemed to brighten the entire room. It wasn’t even magic, if his previous adaptation to mind magic and his newly obtained magic sense, it was just her natural charisma.

Well, she was a Devil, so it made some sense, he supposed.

“Hi! Welcome back to the Land of the Living.” Rias said, her voice bubbly as she went around the table and sat in the chair that was far too big for her. He felt a spike of magic from the chair as she sat on it.

An identification magic of some sort, probably. As he realised that he had officially entered the realm of magic, he felt happiness bubbling within. This was going to be so fun! He could scarcely wait to finish dealing with the two Devils here and get away from here. He had so much to do!

“I never left the Land of the living,” You reminded her, as he sat in front of her. Akeno took her place behind her King.

Rias nodded seriously, “True. True. You just came alarmingly close and then ate your way out.” The reminder couldn't have been more pointed. She had seen his power in action and knew that he could heal himself by eating stuff. Now, he hoped that was all she saw. She didn’t know about his adaptation stuff, and even if she did, as long as she didn’t think it was absolute or as potent as he knew it to be, he should be fine.

It was not Rias he was worried about. It was Sona. That girl was far more observant and would likely figure out far more things from a single conversation and meeting than Rias ever could. Well, she had Akeno on her side, but the point remained. They did not have the context he did, and as long as he did not slip up and put his foot in his mouth, he should be fine.

“Yes,” he sighed and replied, wanting to get this over with, “I can heal by eating stuff. Yes, I know about the Supernatural. I know of your Evil Pieces and know what it could do. I assume Issei is fine?”

Rias waved him off, “Yes. He is fine. He woke up this morning, and he wanted to come thank you, but he is—”

“What?” he stood up, an alarmed expression on his face before he asked Rias with seriousness in his voice, “Was I out for the whole night?”

Rias looked at him in confusion, trading glances with Akeno, who had stepped closer to Rias, probably in case he was going to attack them, “Yes. You were seriously injured, enough that I couldn't teleport you without waiting for your power to do its work. Once I felt like you were healed enough, we brought you here, but by that point, you were mostly healed up. If you are worried about school, don’t worry, as I can—”

“Shit!” He cursed as he put his hand on his forehead, stressing out about his mother. She must have been worried sick. Combined with the fact that Issei too was gone meant she must be doubly stressed. After all, her go to call in case he was late was to the Hyoudo household.

Whirling on the Devils, as he knew they must have cast mind magic on Issei’s parents at the very least, he demanded, “Did you get any call from my mom? She must have called the Hyoudos, asking about me.”

Rias gained a look of realisation as she smiled reassuringly at him, and something within him told him that he was absolutely going to hate this, “Ah, that. Don’t worry. We have made sure neither of your parents will ask for you. We have convinced them that you are on a week long impromptu school camp.”

His eyes widened, and despite intellectually knowing that Rias and the Devils wouldn't mess with his mother, especially since they wanted him as part of her peerage, he couldn't help the surge of anger and fear in his mind when he heard that his mother had been subjected to Mind magic.

It was likely a remnant of the fear he felt when he thought he was going to die and how the supernatural world were going to send in the people who did mass magics on the town to hide a supernatural killing incident.

Clenching his fists, he stopped himself from saying anything else and just bit out, “I am going home to my mother.” He said that and looked at them challengingly, as if daring them to stop him. They did not do so as he stormed out of the office, all but running out of the club. It was very easy to get out as he found stairs at the end of the hallway that began from the office.

Getting out of the club, he saw that it was some time after noon, and cursed even more, as it meant it had been over a day since he had left home. 

He ran as fast as he could without telling the entire world that he was a supernatural being, he skidded to a stop in front of his house and knocked on the door. He had calmed down a bit on the way here and a bit more when he heard her breathing and footsteps coming from the door.

The door swung open, and he slumped as he just hugged his mother, all the tension draining out of his body.