High School DxD: Fox of Ill Omen

Issei

When I woke up, I realized I was in a medical facility.

I was lying on a bed.

For a second I just stared at the ceiling.

Then everything came back to me.

The fight with Saji.

Kaichou’s plan to defeat me with blood loss.

My reveal of Pailingual.

Asia disappearing right before me.

Then I went too.

I slowly sat up and checked my body.

It seemed I’d gotten a blood transfusion immediately after being brought here.

That explained why I could move normally already.

It was the first time I had been sent to one of these medical facilities.

Last time I woke up in my own bed.

I spotted a report someone had left me on the bedside table.

I picked it up and saw it was the results of the match.

I decided to move around before reading it.

I ended up going outside of my room and found a vending machine.

I got a can of juice and sat there reading the result.

We had won.

Gasper, Asia, and I had been taken out during the game.

But even if we had won, our team’s evaluation had fallen. 

It was mainly due to how quickly Gasper had been defeated, and the fact that I, the Sekiryuuutei, was defeated, even with my Blalance Breaker.

Those determining our worth were pretty harsh.

It had been predicted to be a clean sweep and we stumbled.

From what I read, Yuki-san’s personal estimation had risen.

Her achievements of defeating the opposing side’s [Rook] and [Queen] had been noted and her value as one of Buchou’s servants had risen.

I wondered for a moment if she would be happy to hear that.

I chuckled as I quickly realized that she probably wouldn’t be glad to hear she had more attention on her. 

It also looked like Akeno-san had used her Fallen Angel powers during the match.

She had added the light of a Fallen Angel to her thunder magic to create holy lighting.

I was sad that I hadn’t been able to see it like I had told her I would, but I was happy that she had been able to use it. 

And in the end the match became a contest between [Kings] despite our side still having six members left when it was only Sona-Kaichou left on her side.

It was our first victory in a Rating Game.

Even if it wasn’t perfect or what was expected, we still won. 

The game’s rules and restrictions were disadvantageous for us and Kaichou had predicted our plans fairly well.

But we still managed to come out on top.

We were strong.

They were desperate and smart.

That meant that it was never going to be simple.

I shook my head.

I’d thought about it long enough. 

I decided to head to Saji’s room to check on him.

He had been sent here as well, but he had arrived earlier than me. 

So his wounds should have already been healed.

We may have been enemies not that long ago, but now that the game was over we were back to being friends. 

And after the fight we had had and seeing his determination to win, I wanted to see him.

Also, if I was being honest, I wanted to boast at least a little about Buchou’s breasts again.

As I got close to Saji’s room, I heard voices from inside.

One of them belonged to Sirzechs-sama.

I slowed.

The door was open a little, and through the gap I could see Saji on the bed, Kaichou near him, and Sirzechs-sama standing in front of them.

Saji was receiving a small, ornate-looking box from Sirzechs-sama.

He looked very confused.

“U-Umm… what is this…?”

“This is something awarded to the person who excelled and fought the most impressively in the Rating Game,” Sirzechs-sama said with a smile.

Saji’s body trembled.

“…I-I lost to Hyoudou… I don’t believe that I should be the one receiving this.”

He was gripping the sheets tightly.

Hard enough that even from the doorway I could see the frustration in him.

And then Sirzechs-sama said exactly what needed to be said.

“That’s true. But, as a result, that Ise-kun, the Sekiryuutei, was defeated. We watched your battle with excitement from the spectators’ room.”

Then Sirzechs-sama took a medal from the box and placed it on Saji’s chest.

“Even Odin, leader of the Norse gods praised you. You shouldn’t humble yourself,” Sirzechs-sama continued. “Every Devil can aim for the top, including you. I’m happy that I can see promise in the young Devils that are our future. Devote yourself more to your goals. I have high expectations of you.”

Then he patted Saji on the head. 

“It’s fine no matter how many years or decades it takes. Continue aiming to be a Rating Game teacher.” He added.

At that, Saji cried.

He kept himself from making a sound, but his face quickly became a mess of tears. 

He clutched the medal that Sirzechs-sama had placed on him.

I looked at Sirzechs-sama and felt conflicted.

He would do something like this for Saji and he had been nothing but kind to me as well, but he was always different with Yuki-san.

I don’t know if it was because of her conflicts with her precious [Kings] or if it was something more.

It made me question moments like this and why Sirzechs-sama didn’t act this way to Yuki-san.

I pushed that thought out of my mind and continued to watch them.

“…Saji,” she said softly, “you displayed a gallant figure to a lot of people. You fought a splendid battle.” Kaichou said to him.

She looked calm and controlled, but I knew that she was happy for Saji and proud of him too.

There was no way she couldn’t be.

I had heard how she spoke of his desire to defeat me and determination to achieve their dream. 

Saji gripped the medal tighter and bowed his head.

“…Yes… Thank you very much!”

I stepped away from the door after that.

Listening any longer would have been rude.

It was probably already rude of me to see that much. 

I’d already seen enough.

And I was happy with what I saw.

Saji had earned that.

I’d been thinking of Vali as my only rival because he was the Hakuryuukou.

We were fated to become rivals due to possessing opposing Sacred Gear.

He was a wall that I would one day need to overcome.

But it looks like I had become a wall to someone else.

Saji was looking at me as something to chase after and prove himself against.

But this was different from my rivalry with Vali. 

Saji was another [Pawn].

A Devil like me.

A guy with his own dream.

Someone who has been normal until he became a Devil.

He beat me this time, but next time, I wouldn’t lose.

I wondered which of us would become a high-class Devil first?

Which of us would be the first to reach our dreams?

I guess we will have to find out, my rival, Saji Genshirou. 

After leaving his room, I ended up meeting Buchou just before she entered my hospital room.

“Buchou.”

She turned and smiled when she saw me.

That smile made my chest feel warm immediately.

We went into my room together and sat down.

Then Buchou smiled bitterly.

“Ise, you did well in the game. I wanted to thank you for your hard work.” Her eyes narrowed slightly. “But please don’t embarrass me so much, okay? I understand how you normally are, but your sexual desire really is too excessive.”

“S-Sorry…” I said, scratching my cheek. “My new techniques and power-ups tend to be related to my worldly desires…”

“That technique is sealed during Rating Games.”

I stared at her.

“What!?”

My new special technique!

Was it really too perverted to be used in our games moving forward?

That was too much!

Buchou watched me suffer for a second longer and then explained.

“If you are allowed to use it, we would not be able to fight against female Devils anymore. It’s been viewed as too much to be used against them, so it’s been banned.”

That made sense, but I was still disappointed that my new ability had already been disallowed.

All of my effort was wasted…

I slumped forward.

“If Buchou says so, I’ll obey…” I said weakly. 

At least I would be able to use it in battles outside of Rating Games.

If that was the case then my efforts to create my legendary technique weren’t wasted.

Pailingual would still live on.

Buchou’s expression softened after that.

“But,” she said, “we did finally win.”

That made me perk up.

“Compared to our last match, we did much better,” she continued. “But I still lost you, Asia, and Gasper. Even though our family is blessed with talent and overwhelming power, if that power can’t be utilized at the critical moment, it has no meaning. Even if the odds of our victory are high, if we can’t perform in a fight, we will lose.”

I nodded.

She was right.

It really was that simple.

If we had made a large enough mistake, we could have potentially lost that game. 

It was like Azazel-sensei said, if we went in carelessly, our opponents who were entering a fight with the intention to win could overturn our expected victory. 

Our opponents had come at us with the desperate wish to win.

If we hadn’t trained hard enough beforehand, things may have ended differently.

The games were hard.

Actual battles were hard too.

And it made me realize that my goal of becoming a high-class Devil was still felt far away.

Not impossibly far.

But enough that I could understand my shortcomings and what would be required of me.

“But on a happier note, Akeno was able to overcome a roadblock she had been stuck at during this game. And Koneko was able to use her Nekomata powers in an official match. I think both of those things are something to celebrate.” Buchou said while smiling.

That made me smile too. 

“I think so too!” I said. “Even though I wasn’t able to stay in the match long enough to see Akeno-san use her Fallen Angel powers, I’m glad she was able to use them. And Koenko-chan’s Senjutsu was amazing during the match! She was able to detect enemies and take out an opponent in only a few blows. I’m happy that Akeno-san and Koneko-chan have been able to move forward!”

“It’s thanks to you and Yuki, Ise. Yuki was able to get through to Koneko and you were able to reach Akeno. Thanks to you two, almost everyone in my peerage is breaking through the things they carry. At this point, most of the personal issues that I had been worrying about in the peerage have been addressed. I won’t say they’re fully resolved or that there aren’t other issues I'm worried about, but right now things are better. I’m very grateful for that. Thank you Ise”

My face got hot. 

“N-No, I didn’t really do much of anything. I just wanted to keep everyone happy.”

That was true.

I didn’t want Akeno-san to look so upset when she talked about herself.

Yuki-san helped Koneko-chan, but I didn’t want her to look so lost and frustrated.

I wanted us all to be happy and move forward together.

They were my friends and comrades.

I would do anything for them. 

Buchou smiled at me.

It was a wide, genuine smile that I loved to see.

“Ise,” she said softly, “I’m glad that you’re my servant… Please stay with me forever.”

“Of course Buchou! I’ll always stay by your side!”

At my words Buchou’s smile froze before shrinking on her face.

I blinked.

Had I said something wrong?

_________________________________________

Rias

My smile went stiff after he said that he would stay with me forever.

For a moment, I couldn’t speak.

He had said it without hesitation.

Without any calculation or thought besides wanting to stay with me.

He had said it with that earnest smile of his.

He had flushed at my praise but still said it full of his usual energy and confidence.

And hearing him say it so easily had made the guilt I had been carrying rear its head.

That was exactly why I had to tell him now.

We were alone, and if I put it off any longer I wouldn’t have any excuse to give myself for not talking to him now.

I couldn’t keep being a coward.

If I let this moment pass after hearing him say he would stay by my side, then what right did I have to ask him to stay with me in the first place?

I had put it off long enough.

He had already noticed my mods changing.

He looked concerned.

Perhaps he even thought it was something he had done.

That made my guilt grow a little bit more.

“Ise,” I said.

My own voice sounded quieter than I intended.

He blinked again.

“Buchou?”

I stopped myself from frowning at the name he still used for me.

That wasn’t what was important right now.

I folded my hands in my lap and looked at them for a beat before forcing myself to lift my eyes to him again.

“There’s something I need to tell you.”

The worry on his face seeped immediately.

“What is it? Did something happen to someone after the game?” he asked.

I drew in a slow breath.

The words I had rehearsed in my head over and over since my talk with Yuki in the forest didn’t feel like they would be enough.

I could only tell the truth and hope that he didn’t think less of me for any of it.

Hopefully this didn’t change how he looked at me or what could be between us.

And as the traitors thought that I could take the easy route and blame everything on Yuki came into my head, I crushed it before I could entertain the idea.

I had told myself I wouldn’t be a coward again, and I wasn’t going to go back on that now.

“Everyone is alright, Ise. This is about something from before the Rating Game. It’s about something that happened between Yuki-chan and I,” I said.

He looked relieved, but confused.

“Oh. Is this about whatever disagreement you had?”

I nodded slowly.

“We kind of had a disagreement, it was more of me avoiding her than anything. But that’s not the point,” I took a breath to center myself. “On the day we all used the outdoor bath, and Azazel threw you onto our side, I went to her room at night.”

He listened quietly.

He still looked confused as to where I was going.

I pressed forward so that I wouldn’t lose my nerve.

“I went there because…” I swallowed once. “Because in the bath the topic of boys and kissing came up… she mentioned that she could teach me how to kiss.”

Issei’s eyes widened.

“Wait, girls actually do that?! I thought that was something that only happened in raunchy movies and manga… I’ll have to tell Matsuda and Motohama…”

Despite myself I nearly chuckled at his shock and immediate interest. 

If it had been over something less personal I might have found it more humorous.

Instead I continued speaking.

“I was jealous,” I admitted. “Of how easily Akeno seems to handle intimate situations and how confident she is in herself. I’ve been competing with her recently and I wanted to feel like I was ahead in something.”

I glanced at him.

I could see that he wasn’t putting the dots together.

I knew he was dense when it came to the interest of the girls around him.

I think it was partially due to how most girls saw him due to his perverse nature and partially due to how he views each of us.

He thinks lower of himself due to being told that is what he is because of how he acts with women, and places each of us on a pedestal where we were unreachable in some ways in his mind.

At least, that’s what I thought.

I don’t understand how he could be so dense otherwise.

…I’ll admit, Ise isn’t the brightest, but it had to be something more.

“I was feeling childish and self conscious,” I continued, looking away for a second. “Yuki brought it up in the bath and said it was a skill that could be learned. I thought that if I was less clumsy about it then I…”

I trailed off.

I didn’t know if I should continue that thought now.

I quickly continued, before Ise could start asking questions.

“So I went to her room that night, and she agreed to help me. And… and at first it was just practice. Like we had agreed on.”

My hands tightens on each other in my lap.

I forced myself forward into the worst of it.

“Then I stopped treating it like practice. It became something more than that. It changed from something platonic and educational into something more intimate. And Yuki kissed me back.”

I shut my eyes as I said it.

“Oh…”

That was all Ise said at first.

I opened my eyes and I immediately saw the confusion and pain on his face.

“Th-That’s… I um..” his face tightened as he forced himself to give a small smile. “I-I’m happy for the two of you... I didn’t realize that y-you two were—“

“No!” I shouted, cutting him off.

I didn’t want to let his misunderstanding move any further.

I hated seeing how him thinking I had chosen someone else made him look.

“Yuki and I aren’t together! We aren’t dating! It’s not like that at all!” I was panicking slightly. “It was… it was just something that happened in the moment. I got caught up in it and pushed it further than it should have gone, but we stopped and ended it after that. We both agreed that it wasn’t anything more than that.”

Ise let out a slow breath

He still looked confused and hesitant though.

“I thought that you were telling me that… never mind,” he said, his smile coming back before he frowned again. “But Buchou, why are you telling me this then?”

I hesitated.

I hadn’t planned on telling him how I felt about him, but I could now.

It wouldn’t be the best time, especially after telling him I kissed someone else.

But I had been passive so far, and it hadn’t really gotten anywhere.

He still called me Buchou.

He still looked at me only as his master.

And I didn’t know if my actions had made it clear to him that I love him.

They should have, but it hadn’t been enough.

All of that ran through my head as he waited for me to explain myself.

And in the end, I was a coward yet again, despite telling myself moments ago that I wouldn’t be one.

“I’m telling you about this because I don’t want there to be any misunderstandings if you hear about it from someone else,” I said. “Yuki-chan wasn’t the one to change things, I was. I’m the one who got lost in the moment first. She realized it and didn’t stop either, but I was the one to change things.”

I still didn’t tell him it was because I loved him and felt like I had betrayed him that night.

That I had loved him since he and I rode away from the engagement he saved me from on that Griffon.

I had told myself I wouldn’t be a coward again, but when the chance presented itself to me, I failed to reach for it.

…I would one day, or maybe one day he would see how I felt for him and ask me to be with him.

Thinking about it more would only make me more upset.

“So… you and Yuki-san… kissed?” Ise said slowly. “Like in a spicy doujin. And then you both decided that it was just a one time thing?”

That finally got me to chuckle.

I could see Ise perk up at my laugh.

I shook my head at him.

“Something like that, yes.”

“And you wanted to tell me, so that I wouldn’t freak out if I heard about it later.”

“Yes. I heard that you said you would die if I got a boyfriend.” I said teasingly.

“Someone told you that?!”

I nodded with a small smile.

“Well Buchou is important to me, and I don’t want any weird guys like Riser around you again… But I didn’t know you liked girls too Buchou.”

I sighed.

“I don’t know if I do exactly. It’s… complicated,” I said looking up at the ceiling for a moment. 

Then I looked back to Ise.

“But as long as I have you with me Ise, I won’t need anyone else.”

He smiled brightly at that.

“Like I said Buchou, I’ll always stay by your side!”

I searched his face for a moment.

I could see that he meant it in the same way he had said it before.

He still didn’t realize that I meant that there was no one I would be with besides him.

But that was alright for now.

We would be together for a very long time.

I would get the confidence to confess to him.

Eventually.

“Thank you, Ise. That makes me very happy to hear.” I said warmly.

He flushed slightly and gave me an energetic nod.

The guilt I felt wasn’t completely gone, and I still wasn’t sure exactly how I felt about Yuki, but I had told him about what happened.

It had worried him and I could see that he had been close to breaking down for a moment, but now knew and was still acting like himself.

“You know Buchou, I don’t think less of you for what happened between Yuki-san and you. It definitely surprised me and I was really worried about what that meant for a moment, but if the two of you worked it out and you're not dating anyone, then I don’t have anything to complain about.”

I rolled my eyes at that last part.

“Oh, are you the one guarding my relationship status?” I asked.

“Yep! Buchou only deserves the best.” He replied with a grin.

“Oh?” I smiled and leaned closer to him. “And who would that be?”

He flushed as he glanced around quickly and tried to stutter out an excuse.

Then I was interrupted as there was a knock at the door. 

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