[Snippet] Just A Story (Fate/Dxd): Chapter 8 (Patreon)

Alexander sighed as his final class for the day finished. He was packing up his notes for the day as everyone began to clean up their tables.

One would think that going through high school a second time would make things easier. In some respects, that was true; in others, it was very wrong.

For one, it was even worse, mentally. The first time you go through high school, it’s a ‘new’ experience, with everything good and bad coming with it. However, the second time, you remember all the bad memories, and they just pile up and make you dread each day.

Likewise, most people would probably assume that classes would be easy as well. They would also be wrong on that front. Ask any adult what they remember about their high school courses, the facts they had to memorize, and the math equations they had to write every day; see how many remember those things.

Sure, there was some semblance of remembrance once you got into the groove of things, but it was most certainly not like riding a bike.

Alexander vaguely recalled the similar topics, math and such, but not enough that he didn’t have to take notes. That isn’t to say he was doing badly in school; in fact, his previous life’s memories did certainly help.

Even if he had to relearn everything, he still had the leg up that he did, in fact, learn lots of this stuff the first time around. A good portion of it was just remembering what to do and how to do it. He also had the benefit of being older in a younger man’s body, so his mentality was also different as a result.

Perhaps more mature?

All of this led to him being, while not the top of his year, around the upper percentile. He knew that it drove Sona up the wall to know that he was within the top twenty, yet to everyone else, it looked like he slept or didn’t study or skipped class constantly.

He would freely admit that he was doing the bare minimum to do ‘well enough’ throughout school this time around. And luckily, that ‘bare minimum’ in this instance meant he was passing while also slacking off.

There was one aspect about Japanese school that he hated above all others. Maybe it was his sense that was born from being raised in the United States, but he despised the fact that he, as a student, was socially obligated to do cleaning.

Looking at it objectively, he could see the benefits of it. The students take care of their classrooms and their clubrooms; they develop a cultural attachment to them, they treat them better, and they get less dirty or less damaged.

But also, it wasn’t like he asked to be here. School was a requirement, legally and socially, for everyone. Yet, they also dump the responsibility of upkeep and cleaning onto the students?

He considered it just a clash between different social norms.

Just as well, he ignored it.

Or well, he would continue to ignore it, but it was on his mind because he couldn’t understand how Sona was so caught up in it. Why was she so focused on adhering to the social customs here when she herself was a devil and not Japanese?

It didn't earn him any goodwill from his fellow classmates as he always skipped out on stuff like that. But he was already treated like an outsider the moment he enrolled in school, so what was the point in trying to assimilate to activities like this?

He grabbed his shit as class ended, ignoring some stares as he headed out and made his way to the Occult Research Club building.

[Ding!]

His system pinged up as he was walking down the hall, and the floating words appeared in front of his face.

[Milestone reached!]

[Be the target of 100 takedown attempts for media released by the user.]

[Reward: 1 Gacha Roll.]

Milestone?

The phrasing had him blinking in confusion. Not only that, but he didn’t know his system was still tracking take-down attempts of his website and anime. He thought after his system gave him that ‘Ex’ ranked ability to avoid takeovers and detection that it wouldn’t matter anymore.

Alexander understood that there would still be attempts, but finding out that there were benefits to it was still surprising.

Not that he would complain about an extra roll.

It was only one roll as well; it’s not like it was something he could realistically rely on. 

The phrasing still nudged at his mind. Was that the new terminology the system was using, because he had reached earlier ‘milestones’ and gotten rewards out of nowhere?

Sort of like achievements?

It made sense considering how they appeared and how he had no previous knowledge about them. 

It felt like things were starting to pick up. The quests were coming in much quicker than they had the previous years, and he was now earning rolls rather quickly.

Besides that, though, he was genuinely surprised that censorship attempts had reached one hundred already. He knew that his website was getting some good traffic, and even his next quest anticipated 50,000 viewers, but he didn’t think it was that popular.

But he wouldn’t say no to a bonus.

Every little bit helped. He had the urge to immediately roll it, but he held onto it for now in case it was something that just dropped onto his lap in the middle of school.

Most people didn’t approach the old school building where Rias took up residence with her club. Alexander wasn’t sure if it was magic at play or people were just…respectful of the claim here. For that matter, he never once recalled anyone claiming any unfairness; Rias apparently had an entire school building for her club either.

In his mind, there had to be something going on to make that go across as well-received or ignored.

Regardless, he didn’t care to give it any more thought as he walked inside and was greeted by everyone immediately.

“Alex!” Rias called out to him excitedly.

Koneko perked up from the couch at seeing him eating snacks and only gave him a visual acknowledgement by meeting his eyes before focusing back on what she deemed much more important.

Kiba smiled at him and waved politely from the side of the room while Akeno stood there as well, giving him a different kind of smile.

And there was one last person in the room too.

“He’s a devil too?” Issei, the resident pervert and problem child of the school, was pointing at him.

“I’m human.” Alexander said dryly. “My parents are devils though, reincarnated ones, and my dad works under Rias’s dad." He summarized.

“Umu!” Rias nodded. “Issei, this is Alex, Alex, this is Issei, my new pawn. He took all my pawns to reincarnate!”

Issei puffed up as if that were a measurement of his pride. 

“Does this mean he won’t be peeking on girls anymore when they’re changing?” Alexander asked.

Koneko snorted.

“H-Hey!” Issei replied. “It’s the holy land for men!”

“...right.”

“Ara ara, Issei is just a little…exciteable.~” Akeno chuckled.

“I’m surprised he hasn’t been expelled yet.” Alexander commented.

“Oi, what’s that supposed to mean? I don’t get into trouble.” Issei huffed. “What does a Gaijin like you know?”

Alexander shrugged. “I guess I don’t know the culture here enough. Just that back home, you would have been expelled, arrested, put on the sex offender’s list…” Alexander trailed off because he stopped caring. “But what do I know?" He took the empty seat next to Koneko.

The funny thing is, no one denied what he just said.

Though, Issei was huffing indignantly, treating it as nonsense.

"Pervert," Koneko added her two cents.

Issei looked like he just got a shot to the chest for the trouble.

Alexander didn’t have some weird hang-ups about Issei in particular. There was no sense of jealousy or envy or some misplaced anger or grudge. Simply, he didn't like the guy; he had been at this school for a while now, and he had seen the kid doing a lot of questionable things.

Things that would have gotten him in massive trouble from what he remembers about school back home. But here, it was treated flippantly or ignored entirely, which to him was strange.

He didn’t think Issei was particularly a bad person, but it was hard to defend his habit of doing things like peeking at underaged girls changing in the locker room.

He mostly held his tongue further because he saw Rias’s expression and didn’t want to sour her mood. 

“At least I have friends.” Issei grumbled, but spoke loud enough for everyone to hear.

Maybe if Alexander were more immature, it would have stung. But at this point in his life, it just made him roll his eyes.

It wasn’t exactly untrue; he didn’t have any friends in school bar Rias and co., but it’s not like he went out of his way to interact with them on many occasions.

To most of the kids in school, he was a loner and didn’t hang out with anyone.

"Scathing," Alexander said dryly as he looked towards Koneko. “Be sure to cover your drink when he’s nearby.”

“What’s that supposed to mean!?” Issei all but shouted.

“It means exactly what I just said.” He kept his expression even. 

“You –”

“Enough!” Rias crossed her arms, clearly getting upset. “Issei, stop. Alex…please stop insulting my new pawn.”

Issei snapped his mouth shut with a grumble; Alexander, likewise, didn’t throw out another insult either.

However, he also noticed the air in the room got weird, and it was his fault. He got up from his seat before patting Koneko’s head once. The younger girl didn’t pull away or stop him, as she seemed to like him in some regard. “I just came to say hi because you wanted me to see your new pawn. I need to head home; I’ll see you later, Rias.”

He walked out and got down the front steps of the building, nearly onto the walkway, before someone came running over, all but tackling him.

“Rias?” Alexander blinked as she wrapped her arms around him. 

“Erm…well, I didn’t want you to leave without saying goodbye.” She said awkwardly. “We’re friends! I just…didn’t want you to think I was mad at you.” She gave him a big smile.

He couldn’t help but think that Rias was much more socially observant than people gave her credit for.

“How about I walk you home?” She offered.

“Sure.” He relented, knowing that it would be pointless to argue. “Sorry for ruining introductions.”

"Mou!" She puffed up. “It’s good that you know! I was so excited for you to meet my newest peerage member, and you just start off like that! Well, I can’t say I don’t understand where you’re coming from, but I’m a devil, you know? Humans have some weird thoughts about nudity or whatever; I never thought it was a big deal."

It was easy to forget that she wasn’t human and had different values.

“Are you asking me if I think it’s a big deal or asking my opinion?” He questioned her back.

“I mean… I don’t really have anyone else to ask. Akeno is well…she would happily come to class completely naked regardless of whether she were a devil or not, so I don’t think that’s normal. Koneko is Koneko, and Kiba…" She tried not to say bad things about her own peerage, but he got the gist of it.

“To most humans, it’s a big invasion of privacy.” I let it at that. “If you want me to put it into terms you could probably relate to….” He paused for a moment. “Remember everything you said about Riser when you’ve told me about him?”

“...you’re comparing Issei to Riser?” She went still.

“If the shoe fits.” He hummed.

Rias went silent as she followed along as they walked down the street. “...oh.”

It seems like she had some epiphany.

“I’m not some paragon of virtue or whatever.” Alexander spoke up. “I just don’t like him because I find some of his behavior disgusting. That’s it. You don’t need to read any deeper into it.” He decided to make his stance clear on the subject.

“Oh, it’s not because he’s a pervert~?”

Alexander rolled his eyes. “I don’t give a shit if he’s a pervert or if he has an obsession with boobs and women. It’s just fucking weird that he screams about oppai in public and creeps on underaged girls.”

“Hmm.” She bobbed her head back and forth. “Akeno thought that you were just a prude.”

“Should I smack her ass the next time I see her as a greeting?” He deadpanned.

“She’d probably like it.” Rias snorted.

“It should be telling that Akeno is more normal than Issei when it comes to being a pervert in public.” Alexander pointed out.

Rias’s eyes widened. "Oh, my brother…. I think it just clicked into place. Is that how you see it? Oh no…. Yeah, okay, I’ll make sure to keep a leash on Issei.” She seemed genuinely concerned now.

It almost made Alexander pause because his information, part of it was knowing Akeno a bit, and other parts were his other knowledge, but it genuinely made him question now what Akeno was like in private.

"Is it that important that we get along?” Alexander asked. “You seemed upset about this whole thing.”

Her smile dropped a little. “Is it weird that I want my friend to get along with my peerage? I don’t like to see people I care about fighting.”

He found himself relenting again.

Alexander recognized that Rias had that sort of charisma that made you bow your head to her mood rather easily. “I’ll try to be nice in the future.”

She immediately brightened. “Akeno will be happy to hear that you’re not a prude! She’s going to change her tactics, you know? She’s been trying to get a reaction out of you, and she thought she was failing because of that!”

Alexander let out a sigh. “Is that so?”

“Umu!” Rias nodded happily. “Me too!”

“Hmm?” Alexander blinked.

“I thought it was just a human thing with you, so I was trying not to make you uncomfortable!” She reached up under her shirt and, without hesitation, pulled her bra off. “Ah~ That’s much better.” Her exceedingly large boobs bounced freely. “Now I don’t have to wear a bra anymore!”

"...What?"

She pushed up her boobs without any thought. “You have no idea how annoying it was to wear a bra all day! I hate it, bleh! Sona makes me wear one during school, but I was keeping it on after because I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable! My girls deserve to be free!” She said that as her breasts jiggled from a happy bounce in her step.

Alexander opened his mouth to say something but was having trouble finding the right words.

"Why…did you think I was some prude? I literally said, "Nice boobs," to Akeno the other day. He was confused.

“Hmm? Well, I mean…you never stare at our boobs, and you never looked when Akeno was flashing you by lifting up her skirt. And you never stared at any of the girls in class…?” She was naming off different things.

“Neither does Kiba.” He pointed out.

“Well…. I’ve seen Kiba’s hidden porn," Rias said casually.

Alexander nearly choked as she said that. “I have no idea what I’m supposed to say.”

“So you weren’t avoiding my boobs, hmm?” Rias had a shit-eating grin on her face for some reason. “It’s not like I don’t know I have big boobs; if you want to look…. I don’t mind.”

There was a faint twitch on Alexander’s face before Rias broke out in a fit of giggles.

He knew she was teasing him on purpose.

“Oppai, Oppai.” She said with a completely serious face as she intentionally bounced her chest before laughing at Alexander’s expression.

Alexander just groaned as she continued to laugh at him.

“Is this why you wanted to walk me home?” He finally asked.

“Yes, absolutely.” She nodded without a hint of shame. “This is the best day. I got a new pawn, and I now know that you’re not a prude, and you get embarrassed easily~” 

“Are all devils like this?” He sighed.

“Sona’s a big prude, so no.” Rias hummed. “You should have seen the first time she slept over at my house and found out that we don’t always wear clothes at home! She saw Mom with her hand on Dad's—"

“Nope, don’t need that imagery!” He immediately cut her off. 

Rias just broke out in a fit of giggles again. “Speaking of parents, uh, Mom said that Auntie and Uncle are coming back here for a few days at the end of the week?”

“Really? I didn’t hear anything…” Alexander’s expression changed as she said that.

“Oops, maybe they wanted to surprise you? Erm, don’t tell them I told you.” Rias looked sheepish. “But Auntie said how she missed you before. I know that you’re fighting with them; I just thought you should know.”

“Thanks for telling me.” He smiled towards her.

She returned it without the teasing. “Aww, hug~” She grabbed him before he could say anything, probably as a goodbye because they were outside his house. “I’m going to go back to talk with Issei; I’ll tell him to start behaving himself at school.”

“Have fun with that.”

“Mou~” She knew he was being sarcastic. “We didn’t get a chance to talk about the anime! You better come over tomorrow again, you hear me?!”

"Yes, Ma’am.” He let out a sigh, knowing it would be pointless to reject her.

“Umu!” She nodded. “Seeya later, Alex!” She began walking back to school.

Alexander waved at her until she disappeared, but he didn’t go into his house. He turned on his heel, walking in the opposite direction, heading towards his studio.

It wasn’t too far away from his house, a brisk walk through the city, and he found it easily enough before unlocking the door and going inside.

It was just as he remembered, down to having left the lights on by accident.

He threw his keys and everything else in his pockets onto the table next to the coffee machine.

There was a lot of work he had today. Redesigning his entire website from the ground up was pretty much at the top of his list at the moment. Before that, though, he logged into his computer and went to check on the metrics.

Views on his website were at 11,580, which was a few hundred more than yesterday night when he last checked.

Flappy Bird has passed three hundred downloads. It wasn’t a lot, but it was still meaningful considering what kind of game it was and how it had no real backing to it. An unknown publisher throwing out a mobile game without any real depth.

But it was growing; that was the important thing. He didn’t know how much the advertisement on his website was helping that, but every little bit was needed.

He went to check the account that was connected to the ‘donations’ button at the top of his website too, after Rias mentioned it.

He had to sit back as he read the number.

It was over 150,000yen. Which was around a thousand dollars.

That was also quite substantial and a much-needed injection of funds, even with the $10,000 he had sitting in the system waiting to be used.

[Ding!]

[New Quest Created!]

[Create 3 advertisements for Fate/stay Night]

[0/3]

[Reward: 2 Gacha Rolls]

He paused as he read over the new quest that just formed in front of him. His plan was most certainly to invest in advertisement, finding the right spots or companies to handle it.

And the reward was rather good; two rolls was nothing to scoff at.

He would still need to design art or create the promotion advertisement for someone else to host on whatever medium he finds. 

That was going to be a lot of work.

While he was happy for the quest, he was not looking forward to the late nights again.

With a sigh, he pulled up his status page.Name: Alexander Edwards

Age: 18

Race: Human

Alignment: Neutral Good

Gacha Rolls: 1

Talents;

Drawing: D+

Programing: E+

Videography: D-

Writing: C

Animation: E-

Web Design: C+

Skills;

Language Comprehension: EX

Memory Recollection: D+

No Strings on Me: EX

Media Available.

Fate/Stay Night (Anime Adaptation)

Fate/Stay Night (Visual Novel)

Redeemable Rewards;

$10,000 (or equivalent currency of your choice)

He figured he may as well use the roll before he got started. Worse case, he gets another dinner and can work on a full stomach.

He hit the roll as the colors flashed before his eyes before landing on something.

To his surprise, it wasn’t an object that appeared, or even a skill or talent.

Something came crashing down, hitting the ground in front of him with a cry of confusion and pain.

A foreign pair of eyes stared at him as he stared back.

[Ding!]

[Congratulations!]

[You Received: Romani Archaman.]

Neither knew who stared first, but they both pointed at each other and started screaming. 

@***@

A/N

MC gets a new worker! I’m sure this will have no repercussions in the future whatsoever.

Here's an early chapter for you all, I finished it a few minutes ago and figured, why not? Regular releases also coming later today as normal.