Me? Human? : Chapter 9 : Something, something and the Audacity of this Bitch!

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 walked into the school, with a rather noticeable skip in his step, waving happily at Sona, and her underling, both of them looking at him oddly, as if his current behavior was anomalous. To be honest, it was. They had been giving him odd looks for the past week or so, likely noticing something.

Now, that would normally be a cause for concern, and it was, but somewhere in the middle of his torturous training, he had realised something. There wasn’t much he could do about the Devils and their reactions towards him. All he could do was work on his body, adapt to as much as possible, and increase his personal strength. That resolution alone had evaporated half of his stress, allowing him to give his all as he continued to mutilate himself.

His current source of happiness was that he had finally adapted completely to sleep. He no longer needed to sleep at all, giving him a lot of extra time. Time that he used to study, plan, and overall consume as many books as possible. He had an idea about using his ability to increase his intelligence, average as it was.

Even if he could never reach the freak genius that was the likes of Ajuka or Azazel, he could certainly increase the information in his mind, and somehow train his mind to take in massive amounts of information, make patterns among them, and reach some conclusion. It was a far fetched idea, yes, but it gave him multiple adaptations. For one, his body now didn't need sleep, at all, and he could now speed read at levels that would stump most humans and retain all the information.

Shaking his head, he entered his classroom, took out the chocolate he’d bought on sale a few days ago, and opened the current book he was reading. It was something about fantasy tactics, treating each soldier as if they knew magic, and the world they were fighting in was a magical one, with all the ensuing characteristics of the world.

Judging by the accidental encounters he had with not just Rias, but also with Akenno, the gig was likely up, and the local devils had begun taking a special interest in him. It was not ideal, but fine.

So far, there had been no news of mysterious kidnappings and deaths in the town, so probably the Stray Devil problem had not descended on them, let alone the Fallen issue. Still, that was not enough for him to conclude that everything was fine and dandy. Now, if he was anything like an arrogant protagonist, with self confidence bordering on arrogance, then he would have approached some of the supernaturals, gotten purposefully injured, only to grow stronger.

BUT! He had a brain, thank you very much. That could have worked, had his power worked on some esoteric source of energy that was present everywhere, but nope, it ran on regular old food, something that was in short supply these days.

Not a large but a noticeable section of the forest had been cleared out by him. He hadn’t killed the trees completely; he wasn’t that stupid, but he had cleared out most of the branches and even chewed off the top halves of many trees. 

The Devils must have investigated the weird screaming noises that were undoubtedly coming from the hill in the evenings he spent there. They must have found his bite marks there, and from what he knew, Rias had someone in her peerage who had an exceptionally sensitive nose.

Koneko, if he was not wrong.

Shaking his head, he put the devils out of his mind, even though he knew they were going to approach him anyway, and focused back on the back at hand, only to find himself at the last page of the book.

He blinked, going back in memory to find that he had memorised the contents of the book perfectly, despite his attention being somewhere else. The sudden loud growl of his stomach as he found himself hungry only served to tell him that he had just adapted to something. His eyes lit up as he realised just what he had unlocked.

Multiline thinking.

Well, he was sure that it was not the proper term for that, but anyway, he could now think in parallel, and that was huge! Well, it would have been even better if he could think better twice, but he would take it. Either way, whatever it was, it had left him feeling far more hungrier than he had prepared for.

This was the problem with his problem, minuscule as it was. He couldn’t exactly control when his powers worked and adapted him to something. So, he had brought even food for the day, without accounting for any surprise adaptations, certainly not ones that involved the mind, which left him feeling more hungry than he’d expected.

Shrugging, he packed his bags, put the chocolate wrapper in the dustbin, before heading out of the classroom, only to come face to face with one of the two Onee-sama’s of the school. More specifically, the violet eyed one.

Akeno Himejima.

A Devil who was just as strong and dangerous as Rias Gremory, and that was saying something. He opened his mouth to greet her, having grown immune to their charms, only for her to beat him to it. His brain no longer froze upon their very sight or when they came very close, within grasping distance, and his sight no longer wandered around, which was quite the blessing as it probably helped his image in their eyes, though with them, Devils, who knew what their standard for morals was.

For all he knew, they were both exhibitionists. Going from their uniform, it certainly seemed like it.

“Going somewhere, Kenji-san?” Her voice was like a melody, and for the first time in a  few days, he found his brain going a bit foggy, as he replied in a dazed voice, his eyes drawn to her glowing violet eyes and her amused smile.

“Yes. To the Cafeteria. Hungry.”

What was with the lame response?! Atleast use full sentences!

“Let me accompany you, then.” She replied with a smirk before she abruptly held his hands between her breasts. They certainly were large enough to completely engulf his forearm, and from the angle, she had to be doing that on purpose, right? He felt his face go red, as he stuttered a bit, even pulling his hand away, but as if she chose this exact moment to show her Devil strength, she pulled it to her side, making him let go.

He could have exerted even more strength; he certainly had it now, what with all his muscles being dense enough to stop the sharpest knife he could find, even if he dropped from a tree on the knife, but no need to expose more of his weirdness.

So, he replied, his replies coming in dazed and disjointed, confusing him even further, “S-Sure.”

And just like that, he was led to the cafeteria, which was on the ground floor, by a girl who was probably a regular occurrence in all the boys in the High School. Likely, some of the teachers as well, even though Kuoh only had a grand total of two male teachers.

Thankfully, he was early at school, and as such, they encountered only one girl, who was going to spread this to the whole school, of which he was sure, as they finally entered the cafeteria.

“So, Kenji-san, what do you do in your free time? What are your hobbies?” She finally said something, as they sat down with two large meals, ordered and paid for by her, which he was immensely thankful for. His poor wallet was thin and light as it was. He was in no position to treat someone else.

A surge of excitement ran through his mind as he opened his mouth to tell her all about his power, his excursions in the forest, and how he was going to grow ever stronger, ever and ever, until he could fight the strongest being there ever was, and win!

Only for his mouth to snap shut, a frown appeared on his face as he tried to think of ANY reason why he would ever think of telling her that. He should have answered with a generic answer, something that was true even, so he wasn’t even lying, just in case the Devils had a way of telling if someone was lying to them or not.

“Books. I like reading Books.” He answered, and just like previous times, the reply came in, not as smoothly as it should have been. In the middle of this, he felt yet another pang of hunger, as he devoured the large meal like his life depended on it.

He immediately felt better when some food entered his body, only for his brows to furrow as he realised it wasn’t enough. As he was contemplating the choice between having enough money to last the rest of the week and sating his hunger right now, Akeno said something, making him look at her. More specifically, right in her bright violet glowing eyes, as the girl had leaned in quite a bit towards him.

“Really? Aside from books, what else? Any recent additions?” He felt oddly compelled to tell her all about the only interesting thing that had happened recently in his life. His power, and all that he had adapted to.

His mouth opened, all excited to reply, “Y-Ye–YES! I just gai–” His mouth snapped shut, as his hand shot out like a snake, not at her, but at the food beneath her boobs. If his hands brushed against the rather perky funbags, she didn't mention it, and he was in no mind to mention or enjoy it, as he pulled her food towards him and demolished it in record time.

He was sure that there were food crumbs on his face. As soon as that thought finished in his mind, his hand shot out, gathered any food around his lips, and licked it clean as well, such was the hunger he was feeling at the moment. He had no idea why! Sure, any adaptation about the mind should have taken quite the penalty in terms of food, but this food was quite high in calories.

This large meal was actually meant for two or three students. A plate for the table, not for an individual, but in his hunger, he’d devoured that, his large breakfast that his mom cooked up for him, and the three chocolate bars that were full of sugar and, as such, very cheap as well.

Something was wrong here, he realised.

Before he could do something about that, he heard a chair being pushed. He looked up as Akeno looked down at him with a smile that didn’t quite feel genuine. He was sure that his confusion was visible, as she replied, “I just remembered a task that Kaichou assigned to me. I  will see you around, Kenji-san.”

Saying so, she left, her hips swaying in a hypnotising way, as he blinked.

Then, as if a switch had been flipped, he suddenly gasped, his mind suddenly aware of his body. His heartbeat was elevated. His brain had developed a migraine all of a sudden. His face felt hot. His stomach felt empty. 

And the most important, his mind. It felt like it was finally running at full tilt. 

He just sat there for a minute, trying to gather his bearings. Only when the first student entered the cafeteria, did he look at the amount of food he’d demolished and put the dots together.

Empty stomach. Continuous food intake. Headache. His power working continuously.

That bitch tried to hypnotise me!

....

..

.

Eh, she fed me food. That should even things out.