Rise Highschool AU.

Rise Highschool AU.

Commissioned by Citino

Word Count: 2581

…

My name is Issei Hyoudou and my day begins with a vision of beauty looming over me. A visage unmarred by blemish, gilded with a smile, and two orbs more blue than the sky, all framed by ebony locks suffused with a nearly ethereal sheen. Then, a voice reaches my ears, through those smiling lips.

“Wake up, Issei-kun. It’s almost time for class.”

My fellow otaku, I hear your cries of fury, vengeance, and despair, but allow me to state a simple phrase.

A phrase that validates me as the lowest of the low amongst our ranks.

The one who woke me up is a guy.

My childhood friend is a guy.

Li Song is a guy.

I wake up every day and the first thing I do is do my best to not cry.

Sometimes, I don’t manage it, which is why Li does his best to smile at me and keep me company.

It’s as bad as it sounds.

“Ah, you’re fine today. I’m glad, but you should clean up quickly so you can eat.” I do my best to look at the ceiling. I count all the motes of dust glimmering in the sunlight. They keep me company in the terrible, lonely universe that I exist within, and where Li is a guy. “Aha. Still sleepy, huh? Well, I’ll wait for you downstairs. There’s no harm in being late once in a while, right?”

Urk.

Tears.

They’re threatening to leave my eyes.

Ahk.

My hurting hurts.

Guh.

My throat is already seized up in preparation for a sob of sorrow.

I swallow everything down and nod at my childhood friend, who is a guy.

“R-right. I’ll be up soon.” The words elicit a massive, beaming smile. My defenses all fall down one by one. I have died ten thousand times, but have been revived the same number of times, all due to the same spell. Why, universe. Why must you do this to me. Why do you hurt me in this way? “S-say are Rias and Aria downstairs, too?”

“Ah, Aria told me that their trip abroad will take a little longer last night. They’ll be gone until tonight, because of a flight delay.” The simple, succinct answer is something I take hold of, seize, and utilize for my own ends. He is a guy. Only guys talk like that. He’ll never be a girl. No matter how nice is voice is. Guh. Begone, tears! Away with you! You’re not welcome here! “So, there won’t be a club meeting for you today. But, would you like to come along with me to the Kendo club?”

Ah, right.

Kendo club.

The club where people practice Kendo.

Which Song attends every day, and is filled with girls who love and cherish him, and have no problems with one another.

Because, he’s a guy.

I should refuse.

It is in my best interest to refuse.

However, I cannot refuse, because Li is smiling so nicely at me and wants to spend time with me.

“O-okay.”

…

As far as underclassmen went, Eli was probably the best I could ask for.

“W-what!? Don’t say things like that out of the blue!” My gray-haired, short kouhai was probably the only one I could tease. Everyone else I knew had some sort of cheat ability that made it easy for them to put me down. Eli, on the other hand, was different. If anything, she seemed weak to me. I suppose that’s it’s only common sense that the universe will have mercy on me sometimes, even if it’s rare. “Jeez!  You almost threw me off! I was about to get this meatball down Miyakuro’s hood!”

“Don’t pick fights you can’t win.” Right. Yes. That was why I teased her. It wasn’t just to reestablish myself as a man, but to save her from the frightening person known as Miyakuro. The grouch amongst grouches, an old man in a young man’s body, and somehow both betrothed and with a girlfriend. Truly, he is a mystery. However, unlike Li, he is a sign of hope for me. If someone as terrible as him can get two girls after him, I have a chance. “Miyakuro will ruin you, your family, and your people in retaliation. He’s a terrible person without conscience and he pursues any opportunity to add more spite to the world.”

“Oi, idiots. I’m sitting on the same table as the two of you.” Erk! He’s pulled off his secret move! Even though he’s wearing earphones, he’s actually listening to nothing! It’s equal parts creepy and effective, just what you’d expect from Miyakuro! What a scary guy! What a freak! What a freakishly scary guy! “How about the two of you flirt somewhere else for lunch? Leave me and my personal wallet-eater alone, so that I can lose money in silence.”

Angela nodded a few times, but that was more than I usually get from her. She’s the type of character you forget exists, but is doing something important in the background. Really, she’s a nice girl who really shouldn’t spend time with Miyakuro.

“You said that out loud, idiot.”

Oh no, Miyakuro’s reading me like a book!

“You said that aloud, too.”

Argh, I’m helpless against the spite and hatred that fuels Miyakuro’s supercomputer brain! His analysis is too strong for me to ever hope to overcome!

“Laying it on a bit thick there, Ise-senpai.” Augh, if Eli says so, then it must be true. I can always trust Eli to tell me the complete, utter truth. Without a doubt, I can put my life in Eli’s hands forever and not regret it. “H-hey. S-stop that! You’re just teasing me!”

“Well, teasing you during lunchtime is the highlight of his day, because he’s a miserable bag of averageness otherwise.” Miyakuro’s words were swift and brutal. Thankfully it was too swift and brutal, thus it elicited a counterattack from Angela. She smacked him in the back of the head with a chopstick. He was too slow to respond, thus he died. “Dammit, woman! He insulted me first!”

“Still rude.”

That was the first time I heard Angela’s voice in days, but it was as welcome as it always was.

…

Club usually took place after class. I’d meet with Aria and Rias. Rias and I would talk about our… interests, with Kuroka coming by sometimes, if she wasn’t dragging Eli along something crazy. Aria coordinated the rest of the club, who were people I knew, but they weren’t my friends. They mostly exchange students, who my childhood friends could show around because they were from overseas, so when Aria and Rias weren’t around, I normally attended the Going Home Club.

But, the day that I’ll be able to say no to Li is really, really far away, even though he’s a guy.

Eli tagged along with me this time though, she always did whenever Aria and Rias weren’t around.

Sometimes, Aria rubbed the wrong way with people.

“So, did you send the love letter yet? Are you going to confess right in front of Li’s harem? Because, as your friend, I’d like to dissuade you from suicide.” Eli liked to tease too, though. I didn’t get why she didn’t along with Aria. The two of them are practically two peas in a pod when it comes to getting under my skin. Eli did it more cutely though. “That’ll be the only result of you confessing to the great, almighty Li in front of all his ‘students’.”

“Li invited me to come watch today. So I am. That’s that.” Again, I must say again, saying no to Li is bad for my health. Thinking that he’s disappointed in me is worse than death itself. Hold on. This is really sounding like a love confession. Why is this sounding like a love confession!? “Not because of anything else!”

“Sure, sure.” Eli did the thing. The thing where a girl walks with chin up, hands behind her back, and a smile on her face. Smug. I was basically looking on the very definition of smug. Seriously, walking behind a school, with both our uniforms on, and that grin? Well, without a doubt, you can take this right off the screen from a manga panel. “Say what you want, but if you tell Gremory-senpai, I bet she’ll be jealous.”

“Eh? Why would Aria be jealous of me meeting up with Song? I’m not a threat—wait, you’re trying to make me say something I’ll regret, aren’t you!?”  Sneaky! Eli was definitely sneaky. She almost got me the same joke she had going just a heartbeat earlier. Jeez, at this rate, I’m going to wonder if the people I know are just good at teasing, instead of me being weak to teasing! Well, it might be both. But, I don’t want to think about that. “Well, I’m not falling for it! Nuh-uh!”

“Augh, of course, that’s what you think.” Yeah. I’m not that easy to tease! I have some defenses! You can’t get away with teasing me all the time, without me learning how to defend myself. Crap. Does that mean I’m only learning due to exposure? I’m gaining a resistance because of nature, not because I’m me!? Hey, Eli, don’t cover your face like that. I swear that I’m not hopeless! “Alright, alright. Let’s just go meet Li and—

Eli stopped in her tracks.

Because, the someone was coming out of the kendo studio with the club’s nameplate.

Meaning, that someway and somehow, the person in question beat Li in sword combat.

And, before him, the rest of the club.

At first I thought it was the generic, spiky-haired guy with the red jacket holding it who did it, but his power level was too low compared to person who exited the Dojo.

She was pale with skin like porcelain, and her hair was a shade of silver that was somehow natural. Her features were forlorn, almost sleepy, and her gaze was focused on the distance rather than anyone else. She held nothing in her own hands, instead she carried her own kendo blade over her back. Clad in a flowing, floral kimono that I could never afford in my life, she glided on the school ground instead of walking, as though some apparition than a young woman.

I stared at her so intensely that I nearly didn’t notice her subordinate’s fist coming my way.

Eli’s Kouhai Tackle ™ was the only reason that I wasn’t knocked flat onto the floor.

By the punch.

The Kouhai Tackle is a powerful technique, but it has its drawbacks. Mainly that I was still on the floor, but at least I wasn’t going to be nursing a black eye.

Eli, as always, is the best.

But, back to the threat from the mook of the boss whose power level was somehow higher than Li’s.

“Aey, if ya think ya cahn stahr at ma lady like so, ye’ve gotta anoda thing cahming!” Accent. Brutish. Crazy-eyed. Yep, this guy isn’t just a regular mook. He’s an elite mook. The guy that wears down the hero before the final fight. The real last battle, because the hero always wins in the end, and this guy is the one who decides whether that victory will be a happy or sad one. “Graw ah pair of nads ‘fore ya think to harass mah lady!”

If I were the hero of the story, this would be the part where I would lock gazes with this maiden. Upon seeing my friend defeated, the pride of his dojo being carried away, I would declare vengeance and aim to become the best Kendo student ever.

However, instead, the woman looked at me as though I was human garbage.

There was no comedy in the glance. No humor. Having just met me, she looked at me with a glance received for an unsightly, disgusting piece of garbage laid on the street. Nothing was held back. I felt as though I was a disappointment to the whole of the human race beneath her gaze, broke into a cold sweat, and had my heart seize up.

I only found myself capable of thinking again when she was gone.

…

Creighton and I usually didn’t get along. Me, being the average, regular, and normal person, while she’s super high-spec and better than everyone,  had us be natural enemies. Well, really, we never spent time together by ourselves. We could probably get along by never acknowledging the fact that either of us exists. However, in the end, we were both friends with Li.

Thus, we had to interact.

Usually, it didn’t end well.

However, given the current circumstances,  we could put our differences aside.

“So, in return for the Dojo’s title, you have to work for her? To beat another school?” Creighton, being the smarty pants she was, was capable of discerning information quite quickly. Not that I didn’t understand. I’d read enough manga to know where this was going. Song is defeated, his pride is at stake, and to that end he needs to serve the one who defeated him until they’re defeated. However, there’s a twist to the situation. “But, the one you’re supposed to defeat quit?”

“Coda was a genius in kendo, but quit to have a more peaceful life. However, before that, she the Ebony Emperor was someone who could never be defeated in a Dojo, and crushed dozens of schools.”  The twist was pretty great, in my opinion. The protagonist doesn’t want to fight the opponent that will help him regain his honor, because the aforementioned opponent is retired… after technically conquering the whole world already. Technically, then, we were in the timeline where humanity lost? “Fighting means turning my blade against someone who does not wield one herself. However, if I refuse, our Dojo will be forever shamed.”

While Creighton was coming up with an impressive, amazing plan that’ll solve everything, I decided to give my own two cents.

Naturally, if this sort of thing was happening in real life, I was going to try and make it so that fighting wasn’t the only option.

“Hey, ummm, why don’t we go talk to this Coda, first? Maybe, instead of challenging her or forcing her to fight, we can just convince her to have a duel with you, until your… uhh… honor is back?”

I expected a bunch of blank stares, a scoff, and maybe even an eye roll.

Instead, I had Creighton nod instantly.

“That, indeed, is our first priority. Limiting complications is our objective at this moment, so reaching out to speak with this Coda is our best bet.” Creighton clapped her hands together, gave a nod, and did that thing where she pushed up her glasses after crossing her arms. Seriously, how did she make all of that look so natural. If I even thought about doing that, I’d probably die from embarrassment. “Do you happen to know where this Coda is, Li Song?”

“Ah, actually, I can contact Coda right now.”

How convenient.

“She probably needs me to get something for dinner, anyway.”

…too convenient?

“Ah, yeah. She always has to get ice cream. Really, she needs to be take of herself more.”

WAY TOO CONVENIENT!

“Hey, Song… who is Coda to you, exactly?”

“…”

Li, why are you blushing.

Li, why are you saying nothing.

Li, why do you say things like this in the presence of several girls who happen to like you.