Summary: It all started with a joke, a drunk truck driver and dreams of a harem and ended with a trip to the hospital, a broken leg, a crutch and the ability to see numbers everywhere. Yeah, Life isn't too kind on Issei. Sadly enough, he could see that it was about to get whole lot more complicated.

Disclaimer: I don't own DxD or its characters. It belongs to Ichiei Ishibumi

Chapter 1

Issei could still very much remember the exact moment that changed his life forever. It was cliché, almost disgustingly so even. It was in the break of his last year in junior high, a few months away from first year High School. In fact, it was actually when him and his friends, Matsuda and Motohama had just finished taking the entrance exam to Kuoh Academy and were talking about what they would do at the bountiful harvest of women in the only recently co-ed school when disaster struck.

A drunk truck driver, a few moments of ignorance brought on by the happiness of talking to one's friends about topics of interest, a careless lack of belief in their own mortality inherent in the youth who had no need to contemplate the inevitability of death. Through all this little, inconsequential things that it happened.

Issei could still perfectly see the image mere frames before it happened. A joke told by Motohama that caused both him and Matsuda to laugh, taking their eyes of the road for a few seconds, the desperate honking of the horn by an inebriated driver, driving far too fast to be safe, that recognized moments too late what was going on in front of him. Issei's sudden realization that whatever he did, it would ultimately futile as the front of the car was almost upon him.

In a moment of pure adrenaline, pure reflex of his body, in what he believed to be his final act of life, he shoved away both Matsuda and Motohama, pushing them out of the way of the moving vehicle.

The hurtling truck slammed into his body a single frame of time after.

After that, it became cloudy.

All he remembered was being in a haze of pure agony, his body hurting everywhere. No, that wasn't true. He couldn't move anything and the lower part of his body, his right leg, was frightfully numb.

He was sure that that cold meant he was on the fast track to whatever afterlife there was, so imagine his surprise when he woke up nearly a week later, drugged to the gills with painkillers, morphine or something and what seemed like his entire body wrapped up in bandages like a mummy. He didn't really remember that one. He remembered his parents crying over him at his bedside, in sadness at the pain their son was going through and in relief, knowing that he was going to survive a freaking truck slamming into him at roughly a hundred kilometers per hour. If he was slightly more religious, he would thank whatever god he believed in for his intense luck. As it was, the experience simply gave him a much better appreciation for life in general.

His friends visited him too, occasionally even bringing along some of their treasures and giving it to him. Honestly, Issei found it a bit much but they insisted, saying that it was the least they could do since he did save them and all.

Occasionally, a doctor that he didn't know the name of came by, asking the usual stuff, 'are you eating right?', or, 'have you experienced any blinding pain recently?'

It was yes to the latter and a no to the former.

When asked by the concerned doctor, Issei told him that it was rather hard to eat when your insides feel like it's killing you with every swallow. That kind of thing kind of makes you lose your appetite.

The doctor agreed with the point and wrote something down on his clipboard. Issei hoped that it was something more professional than, 'patient experiences blinding pain: feed him oatmeal' or something.

A few hours later after yet another visit by the doctors, right when his parents where in the middle of telling him about what was going on in their neighborhood, which lady got pregnant, which boy dropped out of school, the usual gossip, he suddenly fell unconscious, convulsing and frothing at the mouth. At least, that's how he pictured it. That was what happens in the movies.

After he thankfully regained consciousness, the same doctor came by with an x-ray, saying something about a missed piece of glass that penetrated into his brain and assuring him and his parents that they were doing everything they can to fix it and that it was merely happenstance that they missed the freaking shard of glass inside his head and that it wasn't going to happen again and that they were going to treat him as best as they could.

In other words, they were sucking up to them in order to not get their asses sued for missing something that really should have been obvious. Even he knew that patients with massive head wounds should have been x-rayed at the first chance they could get.

After one such conversation where the Hyoudou Family was provided with luxury steaks for lunch, free of charge naturally, and the doctor that he really should know the name of by now was talking about free healthcare from here on out that Issei noticed something.

Numbers. Numbers absolutely everywhere. Floating in the air, sitting on top of objects, lazily waving about people. Everywhere he looked, those numbers stared back at him. He hesitantly reached out to touch one of them and found that his fingers simply passed right through him, telling him that this was all in his head.

Now Issei was never what you would call a genius, in fact, he was downright bookdumb, barely passing his subjects in junior high. The only time he studied seriously was a few months ago and that was all for the sake of getting into Kuoh Academy, the school full of dreams (for him and his friends at least).

However, after days of the numbers staring into him, it suddenly all made sense. He didn't know how, or when it started, but he suddenly gained an aptitude for the subject that made many a student cry in frustration at the seemingly illogical way the numbers move.

Not to Issei, at least, not anymore. He didn't know what the numbers meant or what it did. All he knew was that it made sense.

One day, he asked Matsuda and Motohama both for math books that they owned and they bought it the next day (along with a few more questionable materials), asking him if he really was that bored.

He freaked them all out, his friends, family and doctors alike, when in a span of 10 minutes, he finished two High-school level mathematics book as easily and naturally as Da Vinci with his art.

The doctor-Yukihira, he finally got after nearly three weeks of being confined- took one long look at him and left the room, bringing with him a college-level mathematics book that was thicker than the last two combined. It had materials in it that even some medical doctors couldn't answer, instead laughing sheepishly and grinning in embarrassment.

Issei finished it in under thirty minutes.

After that display, the doctor pulled him to the side-not literally since he was still bedridden, more spoke to him privately- and told him that he had…..something happen to him, Issei didn't get the gibberish, understanding only that it has happened before with other patients all over the world, ordinary people that got into an accident and somehow managed to suddenly become mathematical geniuses or art prodigies. He called it something that resembled acquired savant syndrome but without the mental deficiency that usually came with it.

Completely normal until the point that they weren't.

A week and a few operations later, Issei finally got the go ahead to get out of bed. It was awkward, Yukihira-sensei telling him that a part of his spine was cracked or broken or something and that, although his right leg was still somewhat functional, it would cripple him for the rest of his life and that he would require the use of a crutch to be able to walk. Either that or a wheelchair.

Since Issei wanted to at least have a modicum of freedom, he opted for the crutch.

It was tough getting used to it sure. Throughout all his life, he was sure that he would remain relatively fit and healthy and that the walking implements he sometimes saw in the supermarkets would forever be a moot point to him.

Nice to know that his preconceptions were being proven wrong this early in the game. It would save him a ton of disappointment later on in life.

Yes, he knew was being a bit cynical, but give him a break. He was 15 years old and he just got out of the hospital after surviving a car crash-the driver was still alive, though he was facing charges and prison time- and he was now crippled for the rest of his hopefully long life.

And the numbers still wouldn't leave him alone.

He learned to ignore it, the human ability to adapt making itself known to him, but it still somewhat irked him. Sometimes, during school especially-first semester started two weeks ago and he actually got accepted into Kuoh Academy along with his friends- he found that his gaze would sometimes wander to those numbers, numbers that, which to others, did not really exist.

So, along with the title of one of the Pervert Trio in the school, he was also known as someone who frequently spaces out, staring at nothing.

All that meant that the famed highschool debut that every student dreamt of was still out of his reach. He tried to stop being a pervert, he really did and he was already improving on that front, but….well…he was 15. A period where raging hormones did absolutely nothing to help with the teachings of that old man that imprinted the beauty of ero firmly into his young impressionable mind. It also didn't help that his friends were somehow even more perverted than he was, even peeping into the cracks, crevices and holes they had found over the course of their three days in school. Any other time he would gladly join them, but sometimes, all the time really, Lady Luck seemed to ignore the two just as much as real girls did and they would get caught where they had to run in order to save themselves from violent beatings.

Issei, as is befitting a normal human being, didn't want to get hurt so he opted to stay out of the operation. Besides, the doctor said that he should ignore strenuous exercises as much as possible for at least the next year in order to make sure that he didn't go all relapsing and going back to the hospital, and he was pretty sure that running away for his life from a horde of angry teenage girls ready to do him violence counted as strenuous.

So after classes, instead of going with the peeping or generally just ogling the women of their school, Issei went home and studied. Not the school material, he wasn't that bored and lonely. He was looking up what those numbers mean because he was sure that they meant something. It took him months of cramming, late nights of staring at textbooks thicker than anything he had ever read before and probably enough caffeine to stop a bull elephant's heart two times over, but after all that, he was successful in finding out just what was going on with him.

Physics.

It was simple physics. The numbers that were everywhere, which surrounded him and which had become a staple in his life was a numerical representation of what was going on in the world around him, numbers that represented the inner workings of the universe, working with each other on such a ridiculously small scale that Issei was pretty sure that no normal human even knew it existed.

Gravity pushing down on an object, the drag a ball experiences as it flies through the air, force exerted by a person pushing on a cart, friction the ground provides as it pushes the cart in the opposite direction, the tiny bits of interaction between matter and matter, all of that and more was going on right in front of Issei in the form of numbers.

Sometimes, whenever he would feel poetic, he would look at those tiny, tiny numbers, constantly shifting and changing, reminding him that, whether or not he does anything or nothing, the world still moves and it would make Issei feel very, very small.

Honestly, it gave Issei a better appreciation for the usually despised subject of mathematics.

His fervor wasn't missed by the student body of Kuoh Academy. One of the already infamous Three Perverts in school who were usually heard to be talking about things that simply should not be said in public had a ridiculously different side to him. As such, it wasn't so out of it to think that he attracted at least some attention from the not so normal students in the otherwise regular school.

()()()()()()()()()

That first time she saw him, it was during one of her irregular patrols of the school, inside one of the first year classrooms, a little over an hour after class, where every other student was either at home or was in their respective clubs. He was sitting on the teacher's desk which, she noticed, was pulled closer to the blackboard than normal, a stick of chalk on one hand and a book on the other, his crutch laid down against the wood of the desk by his side.

He had a thoughtful frown on his face and he occasionally took a break from his inspection of whatever it was on the board to look down onto his book.

Sona looked away from the student and instead moved her gaze to the board and what she saw made her eyebrows raise in surprise.

The first year, Hyoudou Issei, was somewhat infamous in the school, not as much as his two friends to be sure-he didn't peep like those two, and wasn't that a relief for the Student Council President- but still enough to paint the image of an underachiever that only got into the prestigious Kuoh Academy because of pure luck and/or divine intervention worthy of Jeanne d'Arc herself.

So imagine her shock and wonder when, instead of the schoolwork she was expecting him to be desperately catching up on, she instead was faced with high-level mathematics that no first-year student had any business with knowing, let alone writing with the obvious familiarity he possessed.

Hell, there were things written in there that she didn't understand, and she-Souna would admit with no small amount of pride- was known as the genius of her generation.

After a few more minutes of observing the supposed pervert work through what Souna could only very vaguely recognize, she cleared her throat to make her presence know.

To his credit, Hyoudou Issei did not flinch, but he did turn to her with a puzzled expression.

"Ah, Kaichou." He said nervously, eyes roaming across her body before finally focusing on her eyes.

Souna inwardly sighed but made sure to keep her outward appearance composed. She felt disappointed that the rumors about him turned out to be true but wasn't surprised. Where there was smoke, there was usually fire after all.

"Hyoudou-kun," She began, taking another glance at the multitude of numbers and letters written down on board. "shouldn't you be on your way home now? It's getting quite late and it would be bad if you were to get into an accident." Sona gave his crutch a meaningful look.

Hyoudou Issei took one look at the clock and murmured. "It's that late already?" He grabbed his crutch and awkwardly got down from the desk, putting down the chalk and trying to open his bag in one hand while the other gripped at his support.

Sona took one look at him and decided on a course of action.

"K-Kaichou?" He stuttered as the glasses-wearing second year gently pushed away his hands and began to help him pack.

"It's the responsibility of the Student Council President to help the students in need." She calmly said, zipping his bag close and handing it to him. "You can go home now Hyoudou-kun."

"But the blackboard-"

"I'll take care of it." She smoothly intoned, picking up the eraser.

"Well…..if you're sure Kaichou." Hyoudou Issei rubbed the back of his head and began to leave the room. "Thank you."

"You're welcome Hyoudou-kun." Sona returned, the smile leaving her to be replaced by a contemplative expression, staring at the board that was filled end to end. She took out her phone and took multiple pictures of the equations, making sure that she didn't miss even a single one before erasing it all.

She can think that over later. For now, she had her duties to fulfill.

()()()()()()()()()

The first time he saw her, he didn't stare and drool over her body like he usually would. He wasn't slackjawed as most other males won't to do when they captured the attention of someone with her kind of beauty.

The first thing he noticed was the numbers. That itself wasn't unusual –not anymore at least, he had long since gotten used to them- but the values it displayed was different from everybody else.

Humans, he observed over the last few months, had a lot of differences in their bodies. Their weight, body types and compositions, their nutrition from what their usual diet, hell, even their hobbies affect things like muscle mass and the like, but usually, that was all superficial- tiny even- compared to the important ones.

The body was made mostly out of the same elements and usually nothing else: carbon, oxygen etcetera.

So imagine his surprise when Rias Gremory approached him and what he saw in her was different. Nothing silly as her being silicon-based instead of carbon like most life on the world, but it was different enough to warrant his caution.

"Gremory-senpai." He said slowly, ignoring the cries of surprise around him, especially the ones with a hint of outrage from Matsuda and Motohama.

"Are you Hyoudou Issei?" She asked, a glimmer of something flashing in her eye.

Well, if one of the Great Onee-samas of Kuoh Academy approaching the Pervert Trio wasn't enough to cause a scene, then personally talking to one of them cut the cake.

"Yes." Issei answered cautiously, turning to her and nervously handling his crutch. "What is this about?"

"Nothing." She said with a quirky smile. "I just wanted to see the person who caught her eye up close." After saying her piece, she turned and sashayed away, no doubt attracting the attention of all the males and quite a few females in the area.

"What was that about Issei?" Motohama asked, more confused than anything else at the somewhat weird series of events that just transpired. When he turned to Issei, he paused at the unusually contemplative look in his eyes.

Rias Gremory was different, that much he was sure, her looks, family and disposition hinted at that, but it was the numbers that made Issei curious about her, though she certainly wasn't unique in that regard.

No, Issei saw something similar to Rias Gremory in one other student in the school, none other than the esteemed Student Council President of Kuoh Academy, Souna Sitri.

He still wasn't sure if he should investigate further or if he should just keep quiet to himself. After all, the nail that sticks out is usually the one that's hammered down, and he really didn't want to see what Rias Gremory and Souna Sitri could do given the right incentive.

For now, he would just have to pacify himself with looking at the numbers and trying to figure out what they meant, making sure to not tell anyone what he sees.

Lips tell lies, actions misdirect, but the numbers never lie. You just have to look deep in order to find out what stories they tell.

()()()()()()()()()

As it was, despite all of his earlier thoughts and assurances to himself that he wouldn't get himself in trouble from investigating things he had no business shoving his nose into, he got himself stuck waist deep in…..well, trouble. The problem was, he wasn't sure who to blame, Fate, or himself.

He was walking-hobbling really, what with his injured leg and all- with Matsuda and Motohama to the latter's home in order to watch the new Blu-ray DVD they had all pitched in to buy when a string of numbers began to show up and the story it told Issei was not by any means a pleasant one.

In the air was iron, and quite a bit of it too as the numbers indicated, only increasing as it snaked further and further away into the outer parts of town.

Of course, Issei could be wrong, he wasn't all-seeing by any means, and although the numbers rarely, if ever, tell lies, he was still human, and humans made mistakes all the time especially in something as delicate as interpreting what the figures told.

In fact, in the context of this problem, he hoped he was wrong because if he wasn't….well, that mean bad things for someone out there.

He could even be wrong in saying that it was iron. He had only ever observed the element up close once and that was only from the tears of blood that wept from a particularly deep paper cut almost a whole month ago.

For a moment, he seriously contemplated just walking away, looking to the other direction and going by his business like any sane person out there.

After all, iron in the air could mean something like a construction site and it seemed a much more likely occurrence rather than anything else right?

"Hey Issei, you okay?" Matsuda asked in concern, waving a hand over his face.

Issei blinked, looking at the former jock friend of his. "Yeah, why?"

"You've been spacing out for a minute now." Motohama pointed out, pushing up his glasses. "Do you need to go to the hospital or something?"

"N-No I'm fine." Issei shook his head. "I…..just forgot something that my parents asked me to buy for them."

"Should we wait for you?" Motohama asked, holding up the bag that held their recent purchase. "Or do we watch it another day? It's getting late after all."

"No, you go on ahead." Issei waved off. "I'll watch it another day."

"But we bought it together, with our money!" Matsuda argued. "It's only right that we watch it together too!"

"I'll just borrow it after you guys are done. Then how about we watch it again, after all of us finished watching it?" He suggested, trying hard to keep his gaze on his friends and not on the slowly disappearing trail of numbers.

"…..Are you sure Issei?" Matsuda asked, obligation for the three of them to watch it together warring with the desire to WATCH IT NOW DAMMIT!

"I'm sure guys." Issei said, shooing them away with his free hand. "Just be sure to bring it tomorrow."

"Okay!" Matsuda and Motohama waved their goodbyes to him, picking up their pace in their eagerness to watch their new acquirement.

Issei watched them disappear behind the buildings as they turned a corner, a pensive expression now etched into his face.

"I'm just going to look." He told himself, walking towards the direction of the trail of iron which was slowly fading away. "If I see something I'm not supposed to...I'll throw my crutch at them." Issei snorted self-derisively. "Yeah, that'll work."

What he saw there surprised him and stopped him in his tracks. He had braced himself to see violence, maybe a group beating or a gang war. Hell, he had even resigned himself to see a murder. Even bracing himself for the worst, he was still really surprised when his guess was almost spot on.

The distinctive uniform of their uniform told him that the two senpais he had recently met with really was more than what meets the eye, and he'd assume they were not murdering psychopaths both because he didn't want to think the worst of people and because of their reputation in school . The crimson red hair and the unmistakable presence that was the Student Council President made it impossible for them to be anyone else.

Okay, that he could somewhat understand, given that he had taken a closer look at the two before and had come to the conclusion that they weren't normal by any means, and if he wanted proof, then all he had to do was remember the scene happening in front of him right at this moment.

What was surprising was some other students a bit too far away to properly identify, especially as they were in high-speed combat almost too fast to be seen by the naked eye, were currently locked in a life-or-death battle against what seemed to be the lovechild of Cthulhu and a scorpion with an extra face in its midsection that moved.

Issei could recognize Akeno Himejima well enough though. It was kind of hard to miss one of the Two Great Onee-sama in the school, both of whom had received their titles even just in their second year.

It was even stranger when, according to rumors, some Third Year Students call girls a year younger than them by the title too.

Still, in hindsight Issei really should have expected it when everyone in the clearing had the same values floating out of them as the two women who were standing at the back, Souna explaining something to the girl with brown hair that ended in two braids who was staring at the scene with a mix between shock and awe.

No actually, that wasn't true, Issei recognized, staring at the latter two. The girl Souna was with, the numbers were…..more human somehow. Still different from normal human beings granted, but it was recognizable enough. And there was still that…something right in the middle of her chest, and whatever it was...Issei couldn't even begin to describe it.

In fact, all of the other members of the Student Council, the ones currently locked in a life-or-death struggle against something that wouldn't be out of place from nightmares, had more in common with her rather than Souna who, Issei theorized, was some kind of leader to them or something.

"-sorry you had to see that Reya." Sona was saying, looking towards the scene of interest with disdain. "This Stray Devil here seemed to be a pretty recent 'guest' seeing as the higher-ups had not said anything yet. Still, it gave me the opportunity to tell you all about the Peerage System, so some good came out of it, won't you agree?" Souna asked with a small tilt of her mouth towards the still shell-shocked student.

"H-Hai Kaichou." She muttered, dazed, still staring at the last, valiant even, but ultimately futile struggle of the so called 'Stray Devil' as its strength began to slowly wither away and eventually vanish, meeting its demise at the end of a blonde student's sword.

Rias watched the two's interaction from the sidelines with a somewhat bitter yet genuinely happy smile on her face. "Souna."

"Rias." Sona returned, looking to her rival and leaving Reya alone with her thoughts for a while. "Thank you for coming to help. It would have been a disaster if Reya was thrown suddenly into a hunt so soon after being resurrected." She looked at the new addition to her peerage. "As it is, she's still coming to terms with it."

"We've all been there." Rias said, laying a consoling hand on her friend's shoulder while Souna returned it with a flat, unimpressed gaze.

"Your Knight is a survivor of the Holy Sword Project, your Rook is a species of nekomata so rare it's almost extinct with only two known survivors remaining of which she is one of them and the other her sister. Your Bishop is a vampire with a Sacred Gear so powerful he had to be sealed off and don't even get me started on your Queen."

Rias coughed sheepishly, looking away in embarrassment. "Well if you put it that way." She pouted.

Sona shrugged, turning back to the approaching group of students walking towards them. "You have your peerage and I have mine. I wouldn't ever trade them for the world."

The Gremory Heir smiled. "Me neither."

'That's enough.' Issei thought, slowly easing back to from where he came from, making sure to not make any noise at all. His mind was whirling from everything he had found out for the night, and if he saw any more, he was afraid he would snap, deny reality, or turn into one of those doomsayers in the road.

So Issei, having left the premises, missed the following exchange.

"Buchou, someone was there." Koneko reported.

"I know." Rias confirmed, staring at the tree where Issei had been leaning against now that he wasn't there to be frightened off by their attention. "I was waiting for him to come closer." She stole a sideways glance towards her fellow King. "You sensed him too I believe?"

"Of course." Sona said, adjusting her glasses. "Hyoudou Issei, a recent person of interest in school. I even have some thoughts of recruiting him for one of my own…" She trailed off thoughtfully, remembering the equations he had been solving in that blackboard.

"If you say that kind of thing, then it makes me want to steal him for myself too." Rias said jokingly but with a tone of desperation so well hidden that anyone who hadn't known Rias for as long as Souna had would have missed it.

Sona's eyes flashed as she pursed her lips.

Rias was getting desperate. She knew that Rias' family was slowly pressuring her into accepting the marriage proposal from the Phenex family which the redhead had vehemently refused seeing as the third son- and wasn't that just insulting? Rias Gremory who was desired by the whole of the Underworld and the sister of the Maou Lucifer wasn't even worth the heir of the family?- was known as an arrogant playboy and somewhat of an asshole.

Sona was actually unlucky enough to be visiting her when the argument came up. It wasn't pretty.

Still, sympathetic as she was for her childhood friend's plight, she couldn't even think about letting go of someone with as much potential as Issei Hyoudou. When the brunet should eventually learn how to use magic, and Souna would make it her life goal to make him learn if she had to, then the president had no doubt that he would be phenomenal, especially with that gift of his.

And that was what it was: A gift.

His affinity with numbers bordered on the miraculous. Sona didn't quite know to what extent, but the math written down on the board alone could have created and powered several high-class spells with barely any magical excess being wasted whatsoever.

Sona doubted that even with her using the whole of her devil magic-which was more powerful but wild, and not regular ones, much more precise and ordered, just the way she preferred- she would be able to match a spell backed up by that kind of equation.

Rias- and Sona secretly envied her for her abundance of her hereditary power- was more powerful than her at the expense of control, but with enough time, Sona was sure that Hyoudou Issei would be able to outmatch, perhaps overpower even her, the so called Crimson-Haired Princess of Ruin.

Still, if she offered him a position so soon, then he may grow suspicious and she couldn't have that, not when that talent that was just waiting to bloom was still untended, dormant. No, she would have to work her way into his life and then drop hints about the possibility of him joining her forces, and what an asset he would become.

Just thinking about him made the Greed inherent in all devils flare up in desire.

()()()()()()()()()

The next morning was used in convincing himself that, yes, last night really did just happen, yes, he now had solid proof that Rias Gremory and Souna Shitori were by no means normal human beings, if they were that even, and no, he was not going insane anytime soon, or at least, he hoped that he wasn't. It would just plain suck if he was.

So Issei went through his usual morning routine, showering, dressing up, eating dinner made by a now more doting mother, talking to a more engaged father and then leaving to go to school nearly half an hour early, turning down his parent's offers to walk him there as was the usual since the school year started.

He walked through the familiar roads with his now familiar gait. During Junior High, he would leave the house fifteen minutes before classes would officially start, meeting up with Matsuda and Motohama later down the road, and they would reach their classroom just a few minutes before the bell rang, signifying start of classes.

Since Kuoh Academy which was roughly the same distance to his house as their school before, he stupidly left home at the same time when he was fresh off the hospital. To be fair, he really didn't realize that walking with a crutch would be all that different.

Still, after nearly getting himself and his friends late for first period, his right leg protesting quite a bit at the abuse he had abruptly heaped on it, he made sure that he leave early from then on in order to save himself some pain.

"Issei, you don't know it yet, but you're so sorry you missed last night!" Matsuda grinned as he and Motohama approached their disabled friend.

"Yeah, you missed it. The DVD was amazing!" The four-eyes gushed out, unshed tears sparkling in his eyes. "It was everything I dreamed it would be, nay, it was more! It was a slice of heaven itself taking the form of a disc!"

Issei looked at the two of them with blandly amused eyes. "You done yet?"

"Yeah."

"Pretty much."

The two nodded, composing themselves again. Motohama took out the case and handed it to Issei. "You really should try it out you know. The story was surprisingly touching, better than anything I've watched so far."

Issei received it with a bemused smile. "Thanks." He placed it on his bag with care, Motohama would probably throw a fit if it got a scratch or something, he was weird like that, and the three began to talk about stuff that normal teenagers talked about. Assignments they didn't do, topics in classes they didn't understand, little things that made up a normal high school life.

So it was understandably at that moment that Fate decided to take one look at Issei pointed at him, saying, 'that guy' and let her sister, Life- who was just as finicky as Fate, only a lot more hands on- take a shot at him.

None other than Rias Gremory and Souna Shitori were standing just outside the gates and, if their smiles that were directed right at him were anything to go by, were waiting for him.

Any other time, Issei would be flattered, after all, it wasn't everyday that one attracted two idols of the school, but seeing as the timing was simply just too perfect, then he considered himself to be in the right to be cautious.

Any hope he had left that he was not their target was dashed to tiny little pieces when they approached him with an almost eager air.

"Hyoudou-kun, we would really appreciate it-" Souna said, fixing her glasses.

"if you would come with us for a…..talk." Rias finished for her friend, sending the now uncomfortable teen a coquettish smile.

Okay, Issei would have no problem admitting, this part is cool. Being escorted by two beautiful women would never be bad in any universe but still….the glares at his direction was quickly turning from uncomfortable to downright painful.

After the schoolyard equivalent of a penitentiary walk, the three teens were now in the Student Council Room, empty except for them.

"Hyoudou-kun." Souna began after a few moments of thoughtful silence. "Would I be correct in assuming that you know about us?"

Issei, who was twirling his crutch around with his fingers- a habit he had recently picked whenever his mind was wandering- sighed and nodded. "I'm fairly certain that both of you aren't human."

Souna and Rias exchanged a look. Issei took that as a sign that they were expecting that already. Seeing as he wasn't about to be killed or have his mind erased or something, that must be a good thing.

"What else?" Rias asked.

He thought for a while then said, more to Souna than Rias. "I think that the Student Council is something like you right? But they feel more…human."

When the two rose their eyebrows in unison, Issei assumed that he hit the bullseye on that one.

They exchanged another look, before Rias asked, almost confused. "Issei-kun," The brunet made a mental note on how she used his first name so casually. "are you aware of the supernatural? Are you a magician? Or a Sacred Gear user?"

Issei cocked his head to the last one but said. "I've only found out about you last night."

"Then why aren't you surprised?" Sona pressed, leaning forward. "Most people would have a stronger reaction than that! Shock or even fear is normal when faced with Devils for the first time!"

The numerical savant blinked at that one. "Y-You're devils?"

"I think he didn't know that one yet." Rias told Souna dryly at Issei's perplexed expression.

"Prove it." He said once he got full control over his body again, not believing their claims to devildom until he got proof.

Souna and Rias took one look at each other and nodded, black, leathery wings reminiscent of a bat unfurling from their backs.

"Do you believe us now Issei-kun?" Rias asked, a playful smile on her lips.

Issei ignored her in favor of staring at the appendages that came from nowhere, at least, to anyone else's eyes.

Those wings of theirs…..they were part of what made them firmly non-human. It was them that contributed, at least in part, to all those extra numbers flying around the two now-discovered devils.

"Hyoudou-kun." Souna approached the silent teen, looking uncertain. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah yeah." He muttered, rather rudely since she was concerned for his wellbeing, pressing a palm against his forehead.

Souna paused for a while, taking a deep breath then putting out in a rather rushed tone. "Hyoudou-kun, I know that you're still not ready for this kind of thing, I would really like to be able to be the one who would teach you all about magic."

Issei blinked. "Why?" He asked, honestly surprised by her declaration.

Rias gave out a sigh that somehow conveyed fondness and exasperation at the same time, already looking as if she was expecting something

"Because it would be a crime, to see all that potential of yours wither away! Your affinity with numbers could make you into one of the most gifted and talented magicians to ever exist!" Apparently Sona was the type to get caught in the moment as she leaned forward and eagerly grabbed onto Issei's shoulders, eyes shining brightly, voice passionate. "It is my duty, no my privilege to be able to be the one to help your talents bloom! I will make sure that you receive the instruction you need, the instruction you deserve, until you blossom into the splendid magician I'm sure you're capable of becoming!"

Issei sat, speechless as Sona finished her monologue. Not knowing what to do, he gave a helpless look at Rias who smiled and said in a conspiratorial whisper. "Sona here wants to be a teacher in a future."

The aforementioned teen coughed, drawing back from Issei with a slight blush of embarrassment. "You didn't have to tell him that Rias."

"It was kind of obvious." The redhead pointed out.

"So what do you say Hyoudou-kun?" Sona turned to him, willfully ignoring Rias who smiled in victory.

"After a speech like that how could I say no?" Issei sighed in defeat.

The grin on Sona's face was a sight to look at.

()()()()()()()()()

It was later at night, when Issei was just about to go to sleep when a thought occurred to him.

"What did Gremory-senpai want with me?" He wondered out loud.

A.N.

A new story's out. Bring out the confetti and horns. Yayyyyyyyyy.

Okay, just to clear things up early on; no, Issei is not going to be a Devil in this one. He's going to be firmly human for the forseeable future, contracted with Devils and in league with shady people to be sure, but still human.

This story is also going to take on a slightly more cynical take on DxDverse. Not to ridiculous, grimderp levels though. Just...wanna make characters seem more like people, and people don't usually trust each other very well unless they have good reason to

I will also take some liberties with canon, not a lot, just a little, like Issei being friends with Motohama and Matsuda before High School because I have no idea if it's true or not and can't be bothered since they're not really all that important. Sorry guys.

I will also be a bit free with magic in the DxDverse since I don't really know in-universe mechanics all that much. The science, physics, chemistry etc. are also most probably made up since, well, I'm in first year college and am far from an expert on the topic. I'll probably use google from time to time, but that's it. Please don't go on a crusade against me for that.

Now that that's out of the picture, I just want to say that the crutch I had in mind when I was writing this one is the one Accelerator owns. The first one, not the weird ass thing with four legs.

No, I'm not giving up on Pasts, College is just giving me more problems than I thought. Not sure about which one I should update more often though, Pasts or this one.

Reviews are very much appreciated.