Me? Human? : Chapter 15 : Romantic Date, Thirdwheeling & Resolved Moral Quandries...

A/N - A bit dark. Also, long(er).

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 watched as Issei took Raynare on what he would consider a pretty good date. He was calm, accommodating, had a smile on his face all the time, and listened to her, and she too, looked comfortable with him. Smiled whenever was necessary, swatted at his arm whenever he said something corny, and towards the end of the date, as they were on their way to the sparsely populated park on the other end of the town, she had even taken his hand in hers.

All in all, it was quite the romantic picture Raynare managed to paint here, and for a moment, even he was fooled enough to consider the possibility that Raynare might actually be interested in the lovable goof that was Issei.

He had followed along with them, loosely. Since he knew what their itinerary was, and he had good enough hearing that he could always recognise either one of them talking to each other, he was not worried about keeping a close distance with them. Even if Raynare suggested a detour of some sort, where else could they go in Kuoh anyway?

The town was just about enough for a day’s date, especially for a first day, and that too for two students, even if one of them was a hag old enough to be Issei’s grandmother. Well, she could be even older than that, he didn’t know, but she was most definitely not born even in the same decade as Issei, and he was a minor.

Adding the crime of pedophilia to her list of (future) crimes, he walked into the park a couple of minutes after they did, acting as if he was vibing to the music on his big headphones. At first, he just put them on as a dummy but then realised that Raynare likely had just as good, if not better, hearing than him, on account of her being a Fallen, and thus had put on something random, and kept one side of the headphones empty, letting him hear them talking to each other.

As he walked all around the park, sitting in one place for a couple of minutes, admiring the scenery before moving to another spot and doing the same, he felt suspicion taking root in his mind. Raynare seemed to have a never ending pool of thoughts she could express in the form of words, and Issei, lovestruck as he was, just continued to listen, not even taking a moment to really listen to whatever it was that she was saying.

For example, “I hate that brat, Mitellt, and the less said about Dohnaseek the better. They are just really bad min–Ahem, colleagues. I have so much pressure to prove myself to the higher ups but they just don’t care!”

Issei nodded along, not pointing out that she was a student, or rather, she had presented herself as one. What colleagues? What higher ups? She could have said anything, and he would have nodded his head with an interested look on his face.

Shaking his head slightly, he sighed and dove back into the book he had brought with him. Something was wrong here; he could tell that. Even if the park itself was not frequented by many people, owing to the lack of care given to the lawn as well as lack of any swings or playgrounds or really anything except overgrown lawn, and a couple of old, worn out benches one could sit on and enjoy the sunset, it was not even sunset, and there were no people here.

He discreetly looked around and realised that, yup, people were walking around the park just fine. It was as if….

His eyes widened, his mind going to the weird feeling he got when he entered the car, a feeling that he had brushed off as his body being in such close proximity to a Fallen he was about to fight soon, but come to think of it….

A heavy sigh echoed in the garden as he straightened up on the spot, a bad premonition entering his heart, as he snapped around, book and headphones forgotten as he looked at Raynare, who was looking straight at him, her eyes glowing a subtle shade of yellow.

The smirk on her face was in stark contrast to the sweet easy going smile she had on her face before. His body exploded in motion at the first sign of movement on her part. He saw her eyes widening, almost in slow motion, as her wings manifested behind her, skipping the whole Magical Girl transformation sequence she showed to Issei. His hand gripped the sharpened knife tightly as he took yet another step in her direction; the lack of movement of her hands and also the lack of any light spear in her hand giving him slight relief as his mind ran at very high speeds.

The tiles beneath his feet had shattered as he resisted squishing the knife handle, all so he could reach Issei in time. He had been so, so stupid! STUPID! She had laid down wards on the garden, likely beforehand to make sure that no one was around the park when she killed Issei, and his presence had just made her hasten her plan.

Who knows what—

His eyes widened, his entire body freezing on the spot, the whiplash blurring his face or was it the rage? He couldn’t quite process that as he watched Raynare use her wings to kill Issei, whose face was warped in confusion as if his mind couldn’t process the scene in front of him, likely confused at seeing him in the park without his disguise.

The close proximity had allowed Raynare to use her wings as sharp knives, tearing into Issei’s side, but the force was not enough to bisect him completely. Instead, he had to watch as Issei uttered a confused, “Eh?” as Raynare flew up, Issei being pulled a bit upwards before the knife like wing slid out of his torso, a pool of blood forming under the park bench.

A tortured scream echoed all in the park, as his eyes turned bloodshot, the knife handle in his hand creaking as he barely controlled himself. 

No! He had to be smart about this. Issei can still be saved. The Evil Pieces could bring back even the recently dead! Issei was still alive, even if barely.

The small hope that he hadn’t just lost his friend all because he had been so STUPID! to think of the consequences of his presence so close by was the only thing that made him dash to Issei and stay in front of him, his entire body tense as he focused not on KILL! KILL! KILL! but on defending Issei.

She cackled in the air as she threw her hand back, a rather dreaded shape coalescing in her hands.

In the end, the decision was surprisingly easy. The adaptation to sleep had been a big loss for him overall, as, coupled with his curfew and limited mobility at night, it just created the ideal ground for negative thoughts in his mind. For most of last night, he had tossed and turned in his bed, deliberating the actions he might have to take in case of a fatal confrontation with Raynare, which was more likely than not.

Raynare was not a good person, most supernatural beings were not. Why would she care about a human? To them, humans might as well be pets. Even knowing about it intellectually, his mind hadn’t actually been prepared to go at Raynare with intent to kill. In both his previous lives, he had been taught the moralities of a human living in a taxpaying, civilised society, and as such, the concept of taking someone’s life was utterly foreign to him, more so since the target looked humanoid but was clearly not.

But as he watched her laugh, and heard the pained groans of his friend, something snapped in him, the decision to just kill her and be done with it, seemingly done with ease.

All of those thoughts passed in his mind in less time than it took for her to make that giant ass spear. It was probably her own hubris that saved him. She probably wanted to make a giant spear instead of just peppering him with multiple knife sized constructs, all so she could brag to two humans before killing them.

“Ah?” Alas, she never got the chance as he gripped the knife tightly in his hand and jumped, almost reaching her. She predictably flew back, confused and slightly alarmed at seeing him so close by, and with a grin on his face, but his goal was never reaching her. 

His hand shot out with all his might, the very act of throwing the knife creating an air wave that ruffled his hair, and her feather, as the knife seemed to hit the spot, entering and exiting her shoulder in one clean wound.

A moment later, as if Raynare’s body was still yet to receive the pain signals, Raynare screamed in pain.

As he landed on the ground, his hand already reaching for the second knife in the backpack he kept near Issei, only to turn around and see Raynare plummeting to the ground, the fall creating a snapping sound that should have made him wince but only filled him with satisfaction, as his sharp eyes spotted the wing a bit away from her now twitching body.

Ah! Relief filled him as he realised his gambit had worked. His knife hadn’t just injured her, it had crippled her. The fact that he had just cleaved her wing made him feel so happy inside that he could almost forget that she had just all but killed his best friend.

Almost.

…..

…

Then, the rage overtook him as he jumped forward, knife in hand, aimed straight at her heart, his mind already imagining the scene of him twisting the knife and finishing the job. Alas, he had become complacent. A lesson that was taught to him by the light knife that was now lodged in his stomach, as Raynare smiled at him with bloody lips.

Blood spurted from his lips on her face, but she didn’t so much as blink as she twisted the knife in his torso, and then elongated the knife, his back torn open as Raynare taught him the lesson quite well.

Fresh blood escaped his lips as each breath seemed like an effort, but still, he didn’t let himself stray from his goal. All the thoughts of potentially dying here, of the fear that threatened to consume him about actually dying here, about Rias choosing to reincarnate Issei over him, of his mom crying over his dead body, of his mom not even remembering him as the supernatural world wiped her memories, of his mother going through her life like a zombie, knowing about a hole in her mind but never knowing what it was.

He shoved all those fears away as he raised one trembling hand, looked at Raynare’s smiling face warp slightly as he brought the knife down, straight into her chest. Fresh blood spurted from the Fallen. He didn’t know if he got her heart or not, but judging by the fact that she had enough strength to actually kick him away, probably not.

He landed on his back, the grass stabbing into his back as he arched his back, his strengthened body being the only reason he was probably still alive. It wouldn’t do much, though. Unless Rias came here in the next few minutes at most, and reincarnated both him and Issei, the chances of both of them making it were nil. He felt his power start to work on his injuries, consuming the food or at least trying to, considering there was a big hole where his stomach should be.

It won’t be enough, he realised. His body started itching at his back, his power likely prioritising his spine, but he just didn’t have enough fuel in his body for that.

In his desperation, his blurred vision fell on a piece of feather that was just next to her head.

Raynare’s Wing.

His mind helpfully supplied to him. 

Beggars can’t be choosers, he told himself before grabbing the wing.