Me? Human? : Chapter 31 : Good Talk (Patreon)

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

Kuoh, Japan

–Motohama Kenji–

“So,” Azazel said, still leaning on the wall, “I heard I have you to thank for hand delivering two Sacred Gear Users straight into the arms of the Gremory Heiress.”

He could feel his heart eating inside his chest; the vast chasm between him and Azazel very clearly felt even by his very primitive sensory abilities. It was as if his entire body was telling him that it was the worst idea to stay here and talk to one of the strongest beings in the universe, even more so if someone took Azazel’s cunning into account as part of his danger rating.

He suddenly began feeling his power trying to work its magic, in response to whatever magic Azazel was employing, or maybe it was just trying to adapt to the unrestricted presence of someone of Azazel’s level. Either way, it was a bad idea, as he might have been able to hide stuff from the likes of Rias and Akeno; he would not be able to do the same with Azazel here.

Then, as if a switch had been flipped, the pressure was gone, allowing him to greedily breathe in air, gasping slightly as it felt like he had just lifted a boulder from his body and was now completely burden free.

“Who,” He huffed, hands on his knees, barely keeping himself from falling to his knees from exhaustion, “Are you?”

The Fallen Angel snorted at that, snapping his fingers as a chair manifested beneath him. “Please, you recognised me the second you saw me. Don’t start acting shy now.”

He took a deep breath, straightened up before replying, “It’s good you came here. I was just about to contact you.”

This was a gamble. A very bad gamble, his mind frantically screamed at him, but he had to take it. Sure, he was sure to be shafted, and his mom was sleeping on the first floor while he was hosting a Biblical Angel in the kitchen, but he had to take the first step; otherwise, who knows how long it would take for him to actually figure out a way to contact Azazel’s institute.

Who knows if somewhere along the line, the communication could be hijacked or not. After all, no faction could boast of being one hundred percent spy free. The only way to do that would be to have a single person faction.

It was impossible for there to be no spy in the chain of communication; he would have to seek to get admission.

“Oh?” Azazel said, leaning forward, his eyes flashing, “Do tell. I am sure it’s very interesting.”

He turned around, ignoring the howling that came from his mind about turning his back to an apex predator, got himself and Azazel a glass of water, and after emptying his own, dragged a stool to sit on and handed Azazel his glass of water.

Once he sat down on the stool, he replied, “First of all, I did not hand over two Sacred Gear users to Rias Gremory. Your agent, Raynare, attacked and killed one of my friends. I fought her off, but she ended up severely injuring me as well. The Gremory reincarnated Issei against his will. I could barely think straight and was only able to tell her to fuck off before I fell unconscious as well.”

“And the other? The nun with the Twilight Healing?”

He smirked at Azazel, feeling a little bit at ease as the conversation flowed, “She has rejected Rias Gremory’s offer to be reincarnated as a Bishop, as have I.”

Azazel nodded at that. “I see. I see. So, what business did you have with me?”

Instead of answering, he made a show of looking around before he got off the stool and got himself a kitchen knife. Looking straight at Azazel, he brought the knife straight down and stabbed himself in the hand, the metal shattering on impact due to the speed and force of the knife.

Azazel showed no outward reaction, which could mean that he already knew about the anomalies, or he was just that good of a poker face. It could be either one of them, but he just wanted a demonstration done. With that out of the way, he sat back down on the stool before replying, “I want admission into your special school. The one with all the Sacred Gear users. If you agree, there is a decent chance that the nun will follow suit.”

“Oh?” Now, Azazel looked interested, something that confused him because while Asia and her Sacred Gear were valuable, Azazel was a whole other beast and should theoretically have many other more important things to worry about than to come to rural Japan to presumably investigate a case of a bunch of Two Winged Fallen going rogue and trying to kill Sacred Gear Users and Devils who were—

Ohhhh. Oh. 

So, he was here for the Satan sister duo? That could make some sense, but either way, it was good that Azazel was here.

He nodded at the unasked question, “Yes. I was the first person to interact with Asia Argento when she was brought here. I was the one who took her to Rias Gremory for safety until the Fallen were dealt with.”

Azazel looked at him sharply at the remark, “I see. And you knew of their presence here how?”

Well, that was a simple question to answer, “Just like how I knew here to throw the knife behind me. I can sense supernatural creatures in a limited capacity.”

Azazel nodded, “And you want admission into the Nephilim Academy based on what? That you are somewhat durable and can sense supernatural creatures? What makes you different from the thousands of supernatural beings who have to wait in line? From what I can sense, even a Low Class Devil can do most of what you can do, provided they have invested some time in sensory techniques.

Now, the Twilight Healing Girl, her I will take happily. She is a Sacred Gear user, and a healing one on top of that. They are always in short supply everywhere.”

“The difference is that I am only growing stronger. A month ago, I was a regular squishy human. Now, I can tank Light spears from Two Winged Fallen. I believe I can get much stronger over time. I just need time.”

“And you wish to spend that time inside Nephilim?”

He nodded, “Yes.”

“I see. Well, I suppose I can let you take the tests. Here,” his hand shot out to grab a card thrown at him, the metal digging into his palm but not stabbing despite the sharp edge, “Contact that number by the end of the week. We’ll see if you are worthy of Nephilim just yet.”

Saying so, Azazel and the chair disappeared, leaving behind the glass of water that his hand shot out to catch before it created a mess on the floor. 

Damn Azazel. Not even having the manners to secure the glass before teleporting away.

He told himself that, but he had collapsed on the ground, his hand trembling as he realised that he had just successfully negotiated something with a being of Azazel’s calibre. 

Hopefully, things worked out towards that end. It would be awesome to grow so strong that no one would even dare look at him wrong.

___xx___

His mom woke up in the evening, ate a bunch of soup before promptly falling back to sleep. The lack of activity or even an attempt at conversation alarmed him, to the point that he contacted Akeno immediately about the side effects, and she only told him that minds are fragile things, and while her spell did not damage her, so to speak, it could have exhausted her mind.

It was Akeno’s theory that with both the stasis spell and the long term subtle mind spell being taken off her mind in a very short period of time, it must have exhausted her mind and spirit. The only way to heal that would be rest and proper nutrition, prompting him to frantically search for a way to get a balanced diet for her and run to the supermarket to get it.

Thankfully, he knew all her ATM PINs, so getting more money was very easy. They had always splurged on good quality food, so they were not exactly struggling that way, and even if they now had to account for his exponential increase in food intake, the money that was about to come from the Gremory as compensation should be more than enough for them to last years.

There should be some way to gain money in the Nephilim Institute as well, and failing that, Mom might have been out of a job right now, but that doesn’t mean that the situation won't change. 

He’d prefer if she didn’t have to work, though. Hopefully, he could figure out a way to get some kind of skill that could get him money in exchange, in a way that doesn't expose him to the rest of the world as a supernatural freak.

Hopefully, the supernatural world had a good Job market, because the human job market was well and truly fucked. 

Speaking of fucked job markets, he would be really curious to know just how many Black companies in Japan were owned by Devils or other supernatural beings who were not above employing mind control means to ensure the employees lived and died for the company.

Truly, Unfettered Capitalism was the bane of good Societies.

A/N - I accidentally wrote Twirling instead of Twilight Healing and just wanted to let you guys know about that.

Also, I am kinda stuck at writing the interaction between him and his mother about the whole supernatural world. I have written and deleted three drafts. They did not meet the mark, just like the last time I tried, when I just wrote that she knew about it all along.

So, what do you guys think?