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–
He huffed, lying on the ground, his clothes in various stages of ruin as he had finally healed completely. Despite the vastly stronger body and the relief at having his legs back, he just lay there, looking at the full moon in the sky, feeling completely drained, mentally that is. He severely underestimated the damage he’d done to his body. When the healing process had finally begun, he had realised that the damage was not limited to his legs. No, he had fucked up his spine, a thought that still made him panic, as he was barely a step away from killing himself.
Even if he did not destroy it, he could have lost all motor control, and then what? How could he have healed using his power, if his body simply did not have the fuel to power through the process? He could have died tonight, multiple times, and that fact sobered him up a bit, but what choice did he have?
He was already given a shortcut to power. He couldn’t shy away from gaining phenomenal power if the cost was simply pain and some risk. Risk that he could easily reduce with some usage of his mental faculties, limited as they were. He had simply suppressed his intellectual side because of the sheer excitement at seeing his power in action. The feeling of growing stronger by the minute was too much for him.
In his defence, this was the first time he’d actually had used his superpower. Still, the euphoria had clearly worn off now, which was good, because he’d recovered. That was the most important part about this. He’d got his ass knocked, and now he could proceed with far more caution.
Shaking his head, he pushed himself upright, kind of surprised at the fact that he could feel himself significantly stronger than before. The single fall had damaged most of his body. He suspected that the only reason he even survived was because he had spent quite a bit of time beforehand just reinforcing his body against all kinds of damage.
When the healing process had started, he’d felt the familiar itch in places he hadn’t expected to feel. The legs were expected, as was the pelvis, but he felt the healing itch near his spine, near his shoulders, in his chest, as well as near his chin. The shock had likely done some damage, but thankfully, there was no change in his physical appearance. He’d checked, before he had simply collapsed on the ground, done for the day.
Sighing, he quickly changed his clothes, packed the bloodied tracksuit in a plastic sealed bag, before hiding it at the bottom of all his school stuff, and began the walk back home. He was late, very much so, and a thorough chewing out was likely in his near future, but he couldn’t let the grin escape his face, as he had successfully entered a realm that was cleanly superhuman.
Sure, he hadn’t done the same jump again, but he knew that he would be able to get away with it, with maybe some knee pain as the price, which was humongous for him.
Not bad for a single day’s progress.
The difference was felt when he was walking. His steps were lighter, far lighter than before, and he didn’t even feel anything when he intentionally chose a steep decline, instead of the well paved road, to test his leg muscles, and it was clear that all his muscles had been strengthened as a result.
Looking at the town in the distance, he knew that it would take him about an hour before he could reach home at normal speeds. He knew he could run at very high speeds, but he couldn’t do that in the city, so the next best thing he could do was…
He jumped, his head hitting a branch overhead, breaking it cleanly before he began his descent. He didn’t even feel the tree branch as he landed on the ground, creating a thudding sound, without any pain in his body. He repeated the process, arriving at the base of the hill and out of the forest cover in only 10 more jumps, a vast improvement over even running down the hill.
With that little bit of whimsy done, he began walking to his house, working on his excuse for being so late.
I slept in the hills behind the school.
With a click of his tongue, he dismissed the excuse. It was far too simple, not to mention easily verifiable, as Mom would immediately call Issei. The buffoon might just confirm everything, but he will crumble in front of very minor questioning, not to mention the intense mood Mom got in whenever she was concerned about him.
Slept in class? Slept in the park?
Was out playing with Issei and the others? He snorted at that extremely fake excuse. She would see through that immediately. For one, he did not play any sports whatsoever. And he had no other friends. There were very few sports that could be played with only three people.
Shaking his head, he dismissed the increasingly absurd excuse his mind conjured up for him as he reached his home. Ultimately, he settled on…
“I fell asleep on the hill.”
He fell on the floor, holding his head as he looked at Mom with an aggrieved look on his face, as she looked down on him with her hands crossed, a rather familiar wooden spatula in her hand. That spatula brought back memories, as he asked her with a shaky smile on his face, “Um, you’re not about to spank me, right? Because I am too old for that–Owww! Let go! Let go!”
He was dragged by his ear, having to consciously make sure he acted as if that hurt him or that Mom had the strength to not just twist his ear but also drag him inside. He hoped his body did not adapt to ear twisting, as he foresaw multiple times this event would be replicated in the near future. The only way to stop this was either to become an adult or tell her about the supernatural future.
Hmm. He did not know how to feel about that. On one hand, she deserved to know about the things that went bump in the dark, but on the other hand, what could she do about that? What good would it do to tell her about the horrors beyond human comprehension when she realistically couldn’t do anything about them?
There was also the fact that she needed to know about it so she could take some precautions, but then again, what precautions could she take that would stop motivated members of the supernatural community? For regular humans, even the lowest of the low supernatural creatures could tear them apart with ease.
He felt a bump on his head as he heard her shout, “Listen to me when I am talking to you!”
He sighed, straightened up, and bowed at her, “I am sorry, Mother. I was just bored and had nothing to do, so I went to the hill. I ended up sleeping under a tree. It was so peaceful that I lost track of time. Forgive me!”
He heard her sigh before she hugged him, her worry evident in her body language. He sighed at her concern, softly whispering, “I am sorry for worrying you. My phone ran out of charge mid way.”
“Never do that!” Both of them ignored the tears in her eyes as he nodded and went up to get ready. Apparently, Mom had ordered some takeout for both of them, too stressed to cook for him, which just added to the guilt he felt. Dinner was eaten in silence, as he could tell that Mom was still upset about his reckless actions.
Well, if she was upset about him losing track of time, what would she feel if she knew he had just done almost fatal damage to his body and healed himself by eating tree branches? Hell, the amount of tree branches he’d eaten, he must have eaten at least an entire tree to fuel his adaptations.
There was no other option than doing that, though. He simply could not procure that much food all at once, not without bankrupting his family, simply to reach the same level as a Low Class Devil. No, for accelerated progress, he needed more food, and tree branches were the best available source at the time.
Still, he could maybe do the same for a week at best. After that, it might gather more attention than he was comfortable with, which meant he would have to figure out something else. He’d really hoped that over time, his body would adapt to adapting without consuming so much energy. Or maybe it had adapted, but the process was just so energy intensive that he couldn't tell the difference.
Shaking his head, he looked at the ceiling, without his glasses now, as he had put them back on to avoid any suspicion. He had to do something about that as well.
He had a lot of stuff to do, but the problem with that was the limited freedom he had. Aside from school hours, he maybe had 4-5 hours each day that he could spend outside the house to work on his power.
It sounded silly.
I know how to gain phenomenal cosmic power, but I am constrained by my curfew.
But it was true. He couldn’t just lose himself in the grind. No, that was not the way he wanted to live his life. He will be strong, but he will also have his connections. Maintain and create new friendships, be it humans, Devils, or anyone else.
He wanted that freedom, to roam the world without a care. For that, he needed immense strength. Thankfully, he now had a way to gain just that.
Sighing, he looked at the clock and got up. Getting to the ground floor, he put his ear to the bedroom door, the one his mother slept in. After a moment, he heard her snoring, confirming that she was in a deep sleep before he sneaked back up.
Closing his bedroom door, he looked at the assortment of materials on his desk.
A kitchen knife. A plastic bag for suffocation. A lighter.
He closed his eyes, took in a deep breath, exhaled, and approached the table with confidence.
Time for some more masochism.