Chapter one
The perverted trio…
The mere thought of the three of them sent arcs of disgust and potent rage up and down the spines of all females. Never had anyone before or after been so unanimously hated by the entirety of the school population. Even the teachers looked down upon them in distain, going so far as to even hint at their worthlessness. No one acknowledged them. No one cared for them. They were an annoying stain on the carpet best ignored in hopes that they would eventually fade away.
So when the three of them came stumbling into the academy gates, looking like absolute hell, no one even batted an eyelash in their direction.
The three hobbled to class, visibly straining to even stay conscious, covered in cuts and bruises and uniforms in disarray, using each other as supports in order to keep moving. Yes, it was quite concerning. Or it would have been had it been anyone else. But for these particular boys everyone was already in the thought that they'd simply been caught peeping or doing some other scandalous thing and had paid rightly so for their indiscretion.
So no one even tried to help them.
The next day, the three became visibly withdrawn, keeping only to themselves and could be seen during lunches and free periods, huddled around in a circle, muttering to each other conspiringly. This garnered a bit more attention, specifically from the members of the kendo club who had been the most frequent victims of the three's unrepentant perversions. They had noticed a distinct lack of a daily beating dealt and while surprised at such a thing, were glad for it. But seeing them acting the way they did made them suspicious.
And over the next week it was very obvious that there was something different about the perverted trio. The entire school noticed a severe shift in the three boys.
Student council president Sona Sitri noticed first. She had stayed later after school one night to take care of a few more important papers and the sort and was on her way out with her second in command, Tsubaki, when she caught sight of Matsuda out on the track.
Known as the perverted Baldy and the Sexual Harassment Paparazzi, this particular boy was on the fast track to being locked away forever. She wouldn't call him a deviant quite yet, just a young man with a very particular taste, but his habits…they were borderline rapey and threatened to evolve into something that would get him killed or locked up…or both.
She and Tsubaki paused when they caught sight of him on the track, running laps. There was a look in his eyes neither of them thought possible in a guy like him. He pulsated with grim determination and resolve. A drive unlike anything she'd ever thought possible for him, shown in his eyes, so intense it robbed her of breath.
And…he was actually doing quite good! She watched him for half an hour as he paused after each lap to self-evaluate, growing more impressed as he corrected mistakes with each new run. "He isn't new to this," she realized. Behind that perverted personality was an athlete, a very good one. He was out of practice, but with each new lap she saw more and more rust begin to peel away.
Curiosity is a mysterious thing. It makes people notice things that were otherwise invisible. Sona Instructed her peerage the very next day to observe the perverted trio for any other "Anomalies" amongst their daily routines.
It was a jackpot.
The three boys didn't change much in personality at first. They still openly perved on the females of the school, and went through their daily shenanigans, but there were numerous other additions to their routines. And as the days went by, those new traits started to become the more dominate aspects of their personalities, diluting, if only a little, their perverted tendencies.
People saw them working out, getting into shape and improving in vitality and strength.
They spotted them spending more and more time in the chemistry and engineering labs, particularly the glasses wearing Motohama, writing pages upon pages into notebooks and muttering to thremselves like men possessed and spending any free time they could in the gym, punching the punching bags and lifting weights.
And then there were their studies. Their grades began to rapidly improve as well as they became more and more focused on improving themselves, showing her that there was a reason they had been chosen to attend this school.
They were gems! Valuable gems previously unknown! She had to have them. But why the sudden change? What had come over them to make them so suddenly interested…obsessed almost in improving themselves? Why were they so determined to be so strong all of the sudden?
Things got even more complicated when her friend and rival Rias Gremory came to her and told her she suspected that Issei held a dragon type sacred gear and that she wanted him for herself, and that she suspected that the fallen angel faction was going to target him. Normally she'd be okay with that. She knew Rias was in dire need for more peerage members due to her rather desperate situation.
But in this case…
"I have already had my eyes on Issei and his two friends."
"W-what!?"
Sona stared at her shocked friend, seemingly not at all caring about the look in her eyes as she began to explain.
"The 'perverted Trio' has been acting very strangely lately. Something has affected them enough that they have begun to improve themselves. There is far more to them than meets the eye and they show more and more potential every day."
When Rias began to puff up in order to yell or cry or...something, Sona cut her off.
"However, I am not heartless. We'll have a competition. I know the other two don't interest you. But how about we see who can convince Issei first?" because even if rias got issei, sona still had motohama and matsuda and she could live with that…maybe.
Rias paused then gave a sly smirk.
"I'm not really sure what has you so interested in the other two, but for Issei-kun? You got yourself a deal."
But while the devils were busy conspiring to get more servants, the three boys in question found themselves in another confrontation with the kendo club. But unlike any other time these two particular groups met up, it wasn't because the boys were caught peeping on them. No, in a strange twist of fate, it was actually the girls who sought them out this time.
Issei, Matsuda and Motohama were quite content, minding their own business eating lunch in peaceful silence when the sun they were basking in was suddenly blocked off by the group surrounding them, waves of hostility wafting off of them like a poisonous miasma.
It was the shock and the shock alone that kept the boys from wigging out in a perverted manner at such a sudden turn of events. Well, there was something else too, the way their bodies shifted and tensed up for a split second before they relaxed, but none of them really noticed that. Instead, Issei gained their attention with a rather emotionless, "Hey? Something you all need?"
"What are you idiots up to?"
Straight to the point was Katase. Her eyes were narrow and accusing. The boys looked on in confusion at first, trying to come to terms with what was happening.
"Wha?"
"Don't play dumb pervert!" A shinai was suddenly an inch away from issei's nose. Don't think we haven't noticed your suspicious activity! You deviants are up to something! Admit it!"
As a crowd began to gather around, eager to see another beat down of the perverted trio, something utterly unprecedented happened.
All three boys frowned, confused and a bit...annoyed? at girls? No friggin way.
"Um, I don't think we're up to anything?" asked/said Motohama. "Guys?"
"Not as far as I can remember," said Matsuda, looking up in thought. Then he leered. "Not today at least."
"Yeah. You would know if we were up to anything right? You guys are pretty good at catching us," continued Issei.
"Oh please," growled another of the girls. "Did you think we wouldn't notice your half-hearted attempts at peeping? That you were not obvious when you sat in your little corner and conspired with each other? Working on your grades, pretending that you aren't the devious disgusting dogs that you are? Now spill before we beat it out of you!"
Everything seemed to come to a standstill as the boy's eyes all widened as one. And the tension suddenly began to mount up, until finally. Issei gasped. He rose to his feet and pointed, a shocked disbelieving look on his face as he gaped.
"N-no way!" he exclaimed. "Are you serious!?"
The girls took a wary step back as the boy's suddenly gained looks of a sudden epiphany. "I-I don't believe it," muttered Motohama , looking utterly shocked.
"What are you babbling about?" growled Katase, her eyes narrow, but Matsuda was suddenly in her face, her hands clasped within his own as he pierced her with a sorrowful gaze so intense she almost stumbled backwards.
"Please forgive us," he began, dropping to a knee. "We had no idea."
"W-wha!?"
"We didn't realize…please forgive our negligence," said Motohama.
"What the hell are you talking about you creep!?"
There was a pause…
Then all three boys shot to their feet, fists pumped into the air. They spoke as one, yelling at the top of their lungs.
"WE HAD NO IDEA YOU FELT SO NEGLECTED! THAT YOU WERE UPSET WE WEREN'T PAYING YOU THE ATTENTION YOU DESERVE! WE PROMISE ON OUR HONOR AS MEN WE WILL PUT OUR ALL INTO PEEPING ON YOU FROM NOW ON! THIS IS OUR UNBREAKABLE VOW!"
A stunned silence engulfed the area.
For about five seconds before the fury took over.
"God damned perverts! DIE!"
It was Katase who struck first, her shinnai, flew at Motohama's head with the speed of lightning itself, intent on braining the poor boy and allowing for the others to surge forward and swarm the boys.
And it would have struck true too, if it wasn't for Issei.
THWAP!
The bamboo sword smacked into Issei's palm with a resounding crack and was halted. All momentum was instantly stopped, sending a shockwave up her arm. Stunned silence followed as Issei stared down Katase with an intense look in his eyes. Then the look was gone before she could process what she'd just seen and the boy was back to his normal self.
"YEOUCH!" yelled the boy, yanking his hand back to vigorously shake it out and blow on the palm. "Katase-Chan you almost broke my hand!"
"Shut up pervert!"
THWAP!
Another girl found her blade stopped cold as she tried to blindside Issei, the weapon suddenly being held off by Matsuda's school book, held up like a makeshift shield and braced against his shoulder. This stopped them all as they took the time to fully observe the boys. What they saw froze them in shock and fear. There was a look in their eyes, so intense and so…
"What…what the hell's up with you guys!?"
Motohama chuckled and blushed in an embarrassed manner. "Sorry. My body just kinda moved on its own."
The girls gaped at the boys for a good thirty seconds before they huffed, turned and left. Everyone remaining looked at the boys in a new light. They had barely even seen either of the boys move when the kendo girls attacked them. It was an impressive display of reflexes and technique that had respect levels for them steadily climbing.
"Holy shit, girls willingly talked to us! HUZZAH!"
And then the respect dropped back down again.
What the boys didn't realize at that time is that they had suddenly earned themselves a second group of stalkers. It was almost like a stockholm syndrome situation. As the perverted trio focused more and more on improving themselves, the girls of the kendo club would obsess over them, wondering why their peeping was decreasing and why when they did peep they just didn't seems as into it. Something…or someone else had their attention. Not to mention, whenever they did catch the trio and attacked, they boys showed shocking amounts of defensive and evasive skills, expertly parrying, redirecting or outright blocking or dodging their blows, three fourths of the time the boys got away without a scratch despite the vigorous attempts to beat em to a pulp. It made them obsess over them, wondering where they suddenly gained these skills, and coming to outlandish conclusions like the trio had found a new favorite group to peep on.
They were oddly jealous. Funny as that was.
As the days went by, the trio's changes became obvious to all. The boys began to stand out, people catching glimpses of them all over the school working out, studying, or just plain hanging out. No one could ever guess what it was that they talked about whenever they were together, whispering in their little corners. Whenever anyone approached them they became oddly closed off.
And by the time a month rolled by, the three were a lot more tolerated amongst the populous, seeing them be something other than raging perverts oddly made them all more accepting whenever the three had some kind of outburst. And even when they acted in such a manner, the students reacted with amused tolerance now instead of hatred and disgust.
The devils observing them, in order to determine the best ways to approach them saw all of this and were shocked. Some were even impressed, vowing to do their masters proud by recruiting the trio. But things wouldn't really come to a head until Issei was approached by a random girl named Yuuma Amano.
xxxxxx
Iseei couldn't believe his luck! And judging from the incredulous faces of Motohama and Matsuda, neither could they.
"C-care to repeat that?" asked the boy with wide eyes. The girl gave a cute pout, her cheeks adorably puffed out. "No need to sound so shocked," she giggled. "It's perfectly normal for a girl to ask a cute guy out!"
"Maybe if the person getting asked out is anyone that isn't one of us," muttered Matsuda, causing Issei to elbow him in the ribs.
"Ignore him," he said with a smile. "And sure I'd love to go out with you!"
The girl beamed, blasting all three with a smile that sent their hormones raging all over the place. "Great! I'll see you Saturday eight?"
Issei chuckled to hide his nervousness. "Um sure," he said. The girl giggled and then left.
As soon as she was gone, issei frowned, giving his two friends a look. They understood and together they all left. Well they would have if they hadn't almost run over a very attractive girl cosplaying as some kind of devil. "Here," she said cutely, handing a flyer to Issei.
"Eh?"
Matsuda looked at the flyer over his shoulder. "All of your wishes could come true?"
"Suspicious doesn't even begin to describe the last ten minutes," muttered Motohama. Matsuda scowled. "No, what's suspicious is all these girls suddenly wanting to talk to you Issei! What the hell!?"
"That's what I'm talking about you idiot!"
"Shut up!"
Issei looked up to question the girl, ignoring his friend's pouting and arguing, but was surprised to see no sign of her. He sighed, putting the flyer into his pocket. "C'mon guys," he said, putting an end to the squabble.
xxxxx
Koneko Had no desire to follow Hyouduu Issei around as he wandered around town, on this supposed date with the fallen angel. But she couldn't deny that bouchu may be spot on with her theory that Iseei was a dragon type sacred gear holder. It was actually kind of obvious, what with how strong his scent was. She just really didn't think this fool was worth it. His perverted foolishness would cause endless trouble for the rias and the peerage and she knew it. Then there was the sudden interest the other two had. Even Rias was giving them, speculative looks now. But she was loyal if anything and followed her orders without a word of complaint.
So she became the front row witness to what came when the date came to an end.
xxxxx
"What…what the hell!?" exclaimed Raynare as her light spear puttered out pathetically in the suddenly gauntlet clad hand of her target. Issei sighed as his eyes flashed emerald for a second, the legendary Boosted gear gleaming proudly on his right arm, glimmering like a blood red ruby in the moonlight as he clenched and unclenched his fingers.
"How the hell-You're not supposed to know about your sacred gear yet!"
There was a pause as Issei processed those words. Then he grinned in excitement.
"Sacred gear? So thaaat's what this thing is called? Man you have no idea how much that bothered me! You have my thanks Sexy Crow-Chan!"
"Are you serious right now!?"
"I never joke when complimenting a good lookin lady!"
Ranare gaped at him for a whole ten seconds, before she growled. "You truly are retarded aren't you? She produced another light spear.
"Oh well, not my problem anymore, DI-ACK!"
A friggin bola flew out of the trees to the right, almost directly behind the fallen angel, wrapping her up in chords and weighted spheres, rendering her wings utterly useless and sending her plunging to the ground. She landed in the fountain, sputtering and chocking indignantly.
From her own hiding spot, Koneko's eyes widened as Motohama slunk out of the shadows, his lips set in a grim line. "What the hell is this!?" The fallen angel stumbled out of the fountain, still struggling to remove the bola when she suddenly seized up. Motohama sighed as he clicked the button to the small remote in his hands.
As she fell to the ground, flopping like a fish, Issei approached her slowly. His eyes were crying dramatic tears as he observed the woman suffering from mild electrocution. "Man this sucks!" he exclaimed. "I was so hoping I had a cute girl actually interested in me, and this wasn't some kind of cruel joke!" He glared at his gauntlet covered arm.
"Stupid thing," he complained.
Motohama rested a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. "You have my sympathy Issei-dono. Truly our luck was never to be this good. Tis a sad world we live in."
"I know!"
"W-What the h-hell is t-this!?" Trying to yell while still being shocked was difficult. Still it was mildly impressive Raynere could speak as clear as she did.
Issei and Motohama turned to her, both with dramatic tears flowing from their eyes. It was the glasses wearing one who spoke first. "We're sorry," he began. "It's just that…well we couldn't just accept that a cute girl would show up out of nowhere to talk to one of us."
"Yeah," began Issei. "It was like a dream come true when you showed up. But, well we aren't exactly dumb. It was way suspicious."
"T-there was nothing suspicious about it Human! You're-
Her words died in her throat as a pair of feet landed beside her with a soft thud from above. Her purple eyes swiveled up to meet the squinted gaze of Matsuda, who was until that moment, hiding in the trees to the right of where matohama was. Raynere stared at the metal bat the boy had slung over his shoulder. He looked grim and resigned, like a killer ready to execute his victim. Raynere finally for the first time felt the tiniest bits of unease stir within as she struggled to free herself from the electrified Bola still keeping her tied up. But then, as she prepared herself for the beating the boy was no doubt about to lay down upon her, she gasped as the boy dropped to his knees, releasing the hold he had on his bat and staring at her with wide, utterly sad, regretful eyes.
"The gods hate us!" he cried. "They sustain themselves with our suffering!" He pointed at her. "Just look at her! It's not faaaaiiir!"
"Life has never been fair for us," said Motohama. He seemed to regain his composure but he stopped electrocuting the fallen angel as he stared, his glasses glinting in the moonlight.
"So, what do we do now?" asked Issei. Raynere at this point had given up trying to escape for now. Shame was building up. How in the fuck had she been so easily bested by these...these…idiots!?
"We could kill her," suggested Matsuda.
The other two looked horrified. "WHAT THE HELL'S WRONG WITH YOU!?"
"It was a joke! Jeez!"
"Guys, seriously think of something!"
The three paused to think. "Well. Perhaps she has some answers?" said Motohama. "She knows about your gauntlet. And clearly she's not human. An angel maybe? That spear looked kinda holy-ish."
"Yeah but what kind of angel tries to kill someone randomly?"
"So… a tengu maybe? Hey Sexy Crow-Chan! Wha-
"SHUT UP! Like I would tell you retards anything!" spat the fallen angel. Issei eyed the girl. "Aww come on it's the least you could do for trying to kill me."
"Not to mention playing with your desires," muttered Motohama.
"I said shut up!"
"Well there's no point in hanging out around here. We'll take her back to the hangout and get our answers there."
And before either the spying Koneko or the entrapped Raynare could say or do anything else, Motohama promptly knelt before her and jabbed her in the neck was a syringe full of yellow liquid. "Don't worry Yuuma-san. You should be fine. I made this myself after all."
The fallen angel was unconscious in five seconds.
"Should be fine? That's not really comforting man."
"Tch, this is designed for monsters. I don't know how it will affect an angel tengu lady! Besides, should we really care all that much after she tried to kill Issei?"
"Something this sexy shouldn't be a killer in the first place. Man god has a sick sense of humor…"
Koneko watched the perverted trio as they hefted the fallen angel onto Issei's shoulders, jabbered on a bit more about her looks and her oppai, then meander off, their chatter fading as they got further and further away, like they hadn't just subdued a very dangerous supernatural being and carted her off like a sack of potatoes.
She just kinda of stared for well over five minutes.
An hour later, just as Rias was about to go out and look for Issei, frustrated and concerned that he hadn't used the summoning circle to call her, Koneko returned and blurted the sentence without any sort of a warm up to it.
"The trio took down the fallen angel."
"What!?"
xxxxx
When Raynare awoke, it was to a surprisingly comfortable bed. She yawned, her vision quickly coming back into focus as her brain kicked itself back on.
"Oh hello there Yuuma-chan. Sleep well?"
Then her senses abruptly snapped into place as her eyes focused on the source of the question. Immediately the events of the previous night came back in a rush, assaulting her with the painfully embarrassing reminder of her defeat.
"You!?" She surged to her feet, focusing on having her wings explode out of her back as she prepared to unleash hell upon the four-eyed bastard responsible for electrocuting her. Well…all that would have happened if it wasn't for a coupla very key details she'd missed until the moment she flopped hilariously to the ground face first when her wings failed to appear.
"Ah! What the hell is this!?"
And those details came in the forms of a large metal collar around her neck and a pair of mechanical cuffs on her wrists that for some crazy unexplainable reason, completely cut her off from her holy power!
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO ME!?" She screamed, horrified.
Motohama tried to give the fallen angel a reassuring smile. He failed miserably, on account of the fact that the smile he gave was creepy as hell. This became evident in the fact that as he started approaching her, she scrambled back fearfully until her back hit the bed.
"Relax Yuuma-Chan. I'm not gonna do anything to you. Those restraints are a failsafe. You can thank Issei for letting me test some of my inventions on him haha. We weren't sure they'd work on you though. But so very glad they did. Can't have you going all dark angel on us now can we?"
But then he leered. "Not that I'll lie and say I don't wish so very much that you'd want me to do something. Ooh yes I can think of several things…"
He seemed to go off into his own world, drooling like a braindead monkey until the door swung open, revealing the other two. Issei and Matsuda looked determined, even as their eyes shamelessly trailed up and down her body. Raynare glared at them all.
"Aw man, please don't be like that," begged Issei. "We just want to know a few things is all. Afterwards we'll let you go. It's a promise."
"Tch, yeah right. You really expect me to believe that?"
"But it's the truth, Sexy Crow-Chan."
"And stop calling me that!"
They were in a standoff for about two whole minutes before the fallen angel just seemed to give up. Her whole body slumped as she sighed/glared.
"Fine," she growled. "What do you want to know?"
The three grinned, happy and excited. "Well," began Issei as he held out his right arm. "You can start by telling me more about this."
And in a flash of crimson, his arm was encased in the red gauntlet. The back of the hand was decorated with a large green gem. The whole thing radiated power. Raynare eyed the boys.
"That's your sacred gear," she began. "Legendary Longinus class, Boosted Gear."
And a long night of explanations followed.
AN: So here it is, the first chap to yet another new fic haha. This fic was born out of a desire to see a fic where Issei is strong, independent and has a decent head on his shoulders…while remaining true to his original personality. I've only found two fics of such. Now don't get me wrong, there's plenty of good fics out there that has Issei as a non-perverted character, or a fic where he remains perverted but they dull it way down. And I know most are written by people who are disgusted or offended by Issei's original personality but for me? To see so many blatantly bashing the boy because of what he is instead of trying to make it work just annoyed me. So here it is. I added Matsuda and Motohama because honestly if Issei was to remain a huge pervert and remain human while getting strong then I imagine his two best friends would be right there at his sides. Especially if something happens to them that causes them to try and get it together for the most part. (hint)
Anyway tell me what ya thought.