“Takeru, trouble!” the annoying voice of one of the boys who had latched onto me as a delinquent leader rushed up to me as I headed through the school gates. His nose was bloody and his clothes caked in dirt, he had obviously just come from a brawl. I resisted the urge to sigh in frustration, I really wasn’t in the mood for this. “Even with all of us… just three of them were able to…”
He led me to the source of the conflict, and there, standing among a dozen downed fighters were just three men. Not a scratch on them, the only blood on their bodies was that of their opponents, dripping from their knuckles. They were clearly quite strong, for humans.
“Oi, there she is… the legendary Hatsu Takeru of Kamijou high.” the apparent leader of the three, a man around my age with wild brown hair and crazed eyes stepped forward. He shook off the blood on his hands, cracking his knuckles at the same time. “Took ya long enough to show your face, what’s the matter… that time of the month?”
The two other men behind him laughed. One was a bit shorter, but incredibly bulky, with a near shaved head. The other, a tall and lanky man who didn’t look strong at all, but the narrow eyes on his thin face gave him the appearance of a hawk, or at least a vulture.
“Shut up and take your best shot, I’m late for homeroom.” I replied, a listless voice barely escaping my lips as I stood there, not even taking a combat stance. Incensed, the three men all rushed at me. First the stocky one threw a right hook, it was pretty impressive, but I swiftly thrust my fist into his gut, and he fell to the ground.
Next, the thin one sliced at me with his hands, a rapid series of chops that looked impressive, but weren’t that effective in reality. My knee impacted against his crotch, and as he doubled over in pain, I slapped him across the face with enough force to slam him against the sidewalk we were on.
Finally, their leader charged in, leaping into the air and twisting into a very impressive bicycle kick. For this one, I sidestepped and let him land in front of me. He threw out an uppercut, which scraped the edge of my chin, feeling like a small bug had landed on me. With two rapid strikes, one to his chest, the second to his nose, I dropped the final combattant.
I sighed, placed my hands in my school jacket’s pockets, and turned back the way I came. Too strong for fights against regular humans, but too weak for the battle Akira was fighting. Where do I fit in in this world? I thought I had found my place, a meaning to my life, but now I was left in the lurch again.
The way things had gone yesterday made it clear. Akira… he didn’t need me, I was just a liability to him. I couldn’t scratch that angel, let alone defend myself. Had the Seraphim not been toying with me, I would be dead right now. My negative thoughts of this nature continued as I sat down for class and into the beginning of homeroom. I barely noticed as the teacher deviated from the usual plan to make an announcement, that is until I heard the other students chattering about the new student.
“A sudden mid semester transfer? This is just like an anime, hey, you think it’ll be a cute girl?” one student behind me asked his friend, a carefree joy in his voice. A man who didn’t have the weight of the world on his young shoulders, he was free to happily attend school like nothing was wrong. The other student jokingly slapped the first on the shoulder. “As if, bsides, even if the mysterious beautiful transfer student straight out of an eroge walks in, why would she care about you?”
“That’s cold, dude…”
But I had a strong feeling I knew who was going to walk through that door. And, just like a cliched anime series or eroge, exactly like that student had wished, a mysterious female student would arrive. Her hair was brilliantly white, like a fresh snow, in a short bob that hid one of her eyes. She moved elegantly, a perfect lady, her hands clasped together at her waist, gripping her school bag. With each step, the angelic figure’s sizable chest enticingly bounced.
“A pleasure to make your acquaintance, my name is… Akatsuki Sara. I’ve recently come to live here with my uncle, the pastor of the small church on the east side. I look forward to getting along with you all.” The angel bowed softly, a shocked silence falling over the class. They were in disbelief at the inhuman beauty of this girl, who I of course knew was in fact not human at all. The only one not bewildered by the new student, besides myself, was Raza.
I could feel the female Daeva’s glare from all the way behind me, she was still misunderstanding things… there was, there was nothing between the Valkyrie and myself, nothing! In the first place, I wasn’t gay, so it didn’t make any difference… that kiss was, I simply got caught up in the moment, is all.
Sara sat down in the empty seat in front of me, which belonged to the failed reincarnation, a boy named Kouta I believe. Which meant that seat was unoccupied for one reason, the owner was dead. It hadn’t really sank in for me until now, but a classmate of mine had died right before my eyes… and in a macabre twist of fate, the one to deliver the killing blow was now taking his place in the class?!
“You gotta be kidding me…” I muttered. This was a daily life complication I didn’t need, but it didn’t seem like I had much of a choice. I was trapped here between two non-human girls who didn’t get along.
As soon as the classes had ended and it was time for our lunch period, I made a break for the door. I dashed into the hallway, ignoring the stares of my classmates, and sprinted down the hall. I had almost made it to the door, when a hand slammed into the wall in front of me, blocking my escape. The redhead in my path was none other than Yuuki Raza, her eyes glaring intensely at me. Behind me, blocking any tactical retreat, was Sara.
“Don’t run away, Takeru! What’s going on between you two, huh?!” Raza shouted, catching the attention of the crowd of people traveling the school halls.
“Eh? Something is going on between that delinquent and the new girl? Is she already being bullied?” the voice of a girl exclaimed. She was a second year in a different class, so I didn’t really know her.
“Raza… chan, I told you, there’s nothing going on between us, okay? Please drop this.” I pleaded, but she did not answer my prayers, she crossed her arms, her cheeks puffing out in annoyance.
“So it meant nothing to you, is that what you’re saying?” softly, like a battered housewife afraid to speak up, the Valkyrie on the other side of us began to speak. She covered her mouth with one hand, her other arm wrapped around her own torso. “You used my body for your own pleasure… but I mean nothing to you?”
The outcry from the men in the audience was worse than the girls, who mostly looked too shocked to speak. “Huh?? Used her body… Takeru, you bastard, what have you done to this innocent angel?!”
Well, she is an angel, not so innocent though. I desperately looked back and forth between the two women, one staring as if she wanted to make me catch on fire from her sheer intensity, the other feigning the victim. She might be a soft spoken Angel, but she had a pretty twisted personality sometimes.
“D-Don’t say it like that, it’s confusing… It was just a kiss.” I answered the angel, waving my hands wildly to try and get her to stop talking. This reaction, unfortunately, overplayed my hand. A vice-like grip locked onto my shoulder, Raza’s fingers digging sharply into my flesh through my school uniform.
“You took my first… how cruel…” The angel pretended to cry, covering her face with her hands. Not a single tear actually fell from her face, so I knew she was simply antagonizing me.
“Y-Y-You’re the one that kissed me, so why am I getting in trouble for it?!” I grabbed her by the collar of her school uniform, and the crowd around us gasped. We might both be women, but most everyone in this school saw me as a boyish thug. And if this was my first reaction, they were right.
Am I good for nothing but pointless brutality? Nothing more than a street thug, a violent delinquent? Struck with this self doubt, I headed out of the school. This time, the two girls behind me did not try and stop me, rather, they simply followed behind.
The three of us left the school grounds, walking together until I arrived at the bank of the river. I stopped, staring out at the sparkling light reflecting off the calm surface of the water. I sat down on the grass next to the road, my legs crossed below me.
“Sorry… I took things too far.” Sara spoke first, taking a seat to my right. She slowly reached out a hand towards me, but hesitated before her fingers touched me, drawing her hand back to her own chest.
“I’m not upset with you.” I replied honestly, leaning back so that my gaze drifted up to the blue sky above us. I slowly exhaled, my chest heaving in a great sigh. “I thought that maybe now, I could be more than just a brutish, strong woman… but I was totally worthless in that last battle. Aniki is so much stronger than I am, I couldn’t do anything to help, how am I meant to protect anyone if I’m so weak?”
“Of course you can’t measure up, a Shardbarer who has achieved the Transformation of Rebirth is on another level entirely.” Raza answered me from a short distance away, she looked out over the water, refusing to meet my eyes with her own. “How long do you intend to fight without even a true Suura, Takeru?”
“What… are you talking about?” I stared at the Daeva, the words not properly forming in my mind. It was like there was a mental door I couldn’t open, something locking the answers away. I winced and grabbed my head, a sudden spike of pain shooting through my skull. “Ahriman… why are your memories nothing but a burden to me?!”
“It’s true, in our fight, you won through brute force… but you never once transformed into a true Heir.” Sara chimed in. “The closest was when you nearly went berserk during our first battle, but after that… Takeru-kun, are you afraid of losing yourself within Ahriman’s rage?”
“I… I’m afraid?” I gasped, but deep inside, I knew she was correct. Kouta’s twisted expression as he died in agony, that innocent little boy outside the candy store… their deaths had been horrible and tragic… and these memories of a past life, a life that wasn’t my own kept pounding at the inside of my head. Every second of every day since I had first awakened them.
“Maybe you’re right… but with Akira here, I don’t even need to bother with fighting, he can protect us all.”
“Is that really what you believe, brother?” a mysterious voice resounded around us, echoing off of the air itself. My blood froze in an instant, and the two women at my sides seemed equally as stunned. Without any forewarning, like he had always been standing there, a young man appeared. His body emitted an intense, blinding light from within, obscuring his features from my vision, but every part of my soul knew who stood before us.
“Saravieal, return to my side, child.” The man held out his hand towards the angel, an inviting warmth emanating from his figure. “Your failures shall be forgiven, I merely ask of you one simple task, kill the woman sitting next to you. Call forth the holy blade I have given you, and strike down that putrid darkness that stands before you, Saravieal!”
